West Bank unrest after Israeli settler attack leaves four Palestinians dead
Theo Al Jazeera Staff
An attack by Israeli settlers in Tal, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, killed four Palestinians and sparked days of retaliatory raids, arson, closures and mass arrests. More than 20 settlers from the illegal Havat Gilad outpost assaulted Palestinian homes on July 24; video showed a Palestinian killing a settler with his own gun before being shot by soldiers.
On July 24, over 20 Israeli settlers from the illegal Havat Gilad outpost attacked Palestinian homes on the eastern edge of Tal, southwest of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. After local residents repelled the group, they returned with Israeli soldiers. Video footage captured a Palestinian grabbing a settler's gun and shooting him dead before being killed by soldiers. Four Palestinians from the Ramadan family died, along with one settler and one Israeli soldier.
In the following days, Israeli forces and settlers retaliated fiercely with armed attacks, raids, home demolitions, road closures and arson across the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a 'large-scale military operation,' including demolishing the alleged Palestinian attacker's home, revoking work permits in villages labeled 'terrorist hotspots,' boosting military units and accelerating 'legalization' of settler farms and outposts.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed a 'iron fist' response, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded each West Bank village share the fate of Beit Hanoon in Gaza. By the weekend, 26 military battalions were deployed across the West Bank. Israeli forces raided Tal nightly, arresting 30-50 people and searching 70 homes. The operation spread to Jenin, Tubas, Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem, Tulkarem and occupied East Jerusalem.
Four new settler outposts sprang up overnight near Tal and neighboring villages Awarta, Qusra and Jabal Ubayd, bringing the total number of illegal outposts built in the West Bank in the first half of 2026 to 42. Over the weekend, settlers attacked 30 sites across the territory. In Sarra, they burned six Palestinian homes and five vehicles, beating three villagers. In Farata, they torched a carpentry workshop, two houses and farmland, wounding five Palestinians. In Qusra and Kour, two mosques were set ablaze with the slogan 'revenge for Benayahu.' An infant under two months old survived a house arson in Urif.
On July 27, a six-month-pregnant woman miscarried in Awarta after soldiers stopped her at a closed gate and searched her while she was severely bleeding. Roads across the West Bank were blocked, gates around Jerusalem were continuously closed, and settlers set up mobile checkpoints near Nablus and Ramallah. The Nablus emergency center commander said restrictions slowed ambulance transfers, including dialysis patients. New land confiscation orders were issued in Jenin and Tubas.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the number of Palestinians killed in settler-related attacks in 2026 had already exceeded the total for 2025 before the Tal incident, with 18 recorded as of July 20, not counting the four killed in Tal and two Palestinians shot dead in Beit Furik on July 23 while trying to extinguish fires set by settlers.
In Gaza, the Health Ministry reported the Palestinian death toll since the October 2025 'ceasefire' reached 1,203 as of July 27. During the week, many were killed in frequent attacks: two at the Yemen Al-Saeed hospital in Jabalia by a drone; attacks destroyed homes in Zeitoun, Gaza City, and Maghazi camp; and police commander Abdul-Nasser al-Maqadma was killed in Sheikh Radwan. In Khan Younis, a drone killed Khaled al-Breem while he was buying candy to celebrate exam results, along with two others at the Abu al-Rish home. On July 26, two Hamas security officials died in an attack near Deir el-Balah.
Israel's 'Golden Road' direct control in Gaza continues to expand beyond the ceasefire agreement. New concrete blocks were pushed into the Abu al-Ajeen area east of Deir el-Balah on July 25, forcing many families to flee. A 23-km earth embankment dividing Gaza is under construction. The humanitarian situation is deteriorating: the World Food Programme warned of cuts, FAO and UNICEF said 67% of the population (1.4 million people) face food shortages; OCHA recorded nearly 4,000 miscarriages in the first half of 2026, triple the second half of 2025, and 57% of pregnant women are anemic. The closure of the Zikim crossing in May reduced aid entering northern Gaza by about a third. The Israeli government approved the International Stabilization Force (ISF) of about 200 personnel from Uganda and Morocco, operating in coordination with the Israeli military, though no specific deployment timeline has been set.
