A 23-year-old Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli settlers during a raid on the village of Deir Jarir, northeast of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank on Saturday. Ali Majed Hamadneh was struck by gunfire that penetrated his back and chest, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. He was transported in critical condition to the Palestine Medical Complex, where he later died from his wounds. A child was also injured in a separate settler attack the same day in the Khalayel al-Louz area southeast of Bethlehem, where settlers reportedly sprayed residents with pepper gas.
The village council head of Deir Jarir, Fathi Hamdan, said armed settlers attacked from the village's western entrance and opened fire on residents, while Israeli military forces simultaneously entered the area — in his words, to provide security cover for the settlers. The Israeli military did not offer an immediate comment on the incident.
The raid comes just two days after Israel approved 34 new settlement outposts in the West Bank, bringing the total approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government to at least 102 since it took office in 2022 — a pace significantly faster than previous administrations. The approvals drew condemnation from the Palestinian Authority, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the European Union, all of which described the move as a violation of international law. Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal.
Saturday's killing is part of a broader and accelerating pattern of settler violence. According to the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, settlers carried out 443 attacks between late February and late March alone, including direct shootings, property burnings, and attempts to establish new outposts. At least nine Palestinians were killed in settler attacks during that same period. Since October 2023, at least 1,148 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, with around 11,750 injured and some 22,000 detained.
Why this matters: The surge in settler violence has drawn unusual criticism from within Israeli society itself, including from prominent rabbis, settler leaders, and even the Israeli military chief, who called the attacks