ABU FALAH, Palestinian Territories: Palestinian authorities and the Israeli military said Sunday that three Palestinians were killed during an Israeli settler attack in the occupied West Bank, taking to four the number reported dead in such incidents over two days.
AFP journalists witnessed the funerals of the four men where relatives wept as mourners carried the bodies and chanted slogans.
The spate of killings is the latest bloodshed as a result of violence that has soared in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
The Palestinian health ministry said Sunday that Israeli settlers shot dead Thaer Faruq Hamayel, 24, and Farea Jawdat Hamayel, 57, in the town of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah.
It did not say when the incident occurred or provide further details.
Mourner Hamid Khattab said that the Israeli settlers “were firing pistols at first, then they were given automatic weapons”.
In a post on X, Palestinian vice president Hussein al-Sheikh condemned the “brutal attack on innocent citizens,” saying three were killed and seven others injured.
The Israeli military said forces were dispatched to the Abu Falah area “following a report of Palestinians being attacked by Israeli civilians near homes”.
“Later, it was reported that two Palestinians were killed as a result of gunfire. Additionally, it was reported that another Palestinian died from suffocation,” it said in a statement.
“This is an unacceptable incident,” Major General Avi Bluth, head of the Israeli military in the West Bank, was quoted as saying.
“There will be zero tolerance for civilians who take the law into their own hands. These actions are dangerous, they do not represent the Jewish people or the State of Israel,” he added.
On Saturday, the Ramallah-based health ministry and a local mayor said Israeli settlers shot dead a Palestinian man and wounded his brother in an attack on another West Bank village, Wadi al-Rakhim.
Mohammad Rabai, head of the nearby Tuwani village council, said that settlers had entered homes in the area and attacked the family of 27-year-old Amir Mohammad Shnaran, who later died.
The Israeli military said soldiers and police were dispatched to the scene after reports of a “violent confrontation” between Israelis and Palestinians.
It said initial information indicated that a reserve soldier opened fire, and an investigation was underway.
Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has risen sharply since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war. It has continued despite the ceasefire.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,043 Palestinians, many of them militants, but also scores of civilians, in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.
At least 45 Israelis, including both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.
