Palestinian shot by troops amid clash with settlers near Tell, week after deadly gunfight

A Palestinian was shot and wounded by the IDF as Israeli settlers entered the outskirts of Nablus Friday morning and again clashed with Palestinians near the site of a deadly gunfight last week in the Palestinian village of Tell.

Settlers organized the march Friday in the northern West Bank in memory of two Israelis killed in last week’s fight, during which four Palestinians were also killed.

The military said Palestinians hurled stones at the Israeli civilians, and one of the Israelis opened fire in the air.

The IDF said it also received a report of several Israelis who “vandalized a cemetery” in the Nablus area. The settlers also passed through the outskirts of Tell during the hike.

The IDF said that later, Palestinians hurled stones at troops in the area, and the soldiers opened fire at a “main instigator.”

“Our crews in Nablus are treating a young man who was shot with live ammunition in the abdomen during an Israeli army and settler raid on the al-Juneid area,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

#شاهد | مستوطنون يعتدون على قبر الشهيد محمد الجنيدي خلال اقتحام قرية الجنيد غرب #نابلس pic.twitter.com/W1PXiFUzXg

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) July 31, 2026

The hike went through areas A and B of the West Bank, which are meant to be under Palestinian civil control. Israeli civilians are prohibited by their own government from entering Area A, which is also meant to be under Palestinian security control.

The hike was not approved by the IDF, but the military said troops “had been deployed in advance in the area ahead of the Israelis’ arrival, were dispatched to disperse the gathering and worked to remove the civilians from the area.”

All of the Israelis eventually left the Nablus area, according to the army.

“The IDF emphasizes that entry into Area A is prohibited and dangerous for Israelis, and constitutes a violation of the law,” the army added.

بحماية قوات الاحتلال… مستوطنون بأعداد كبيرة يقتحمون قرية تل جنوب غرب نابلس صباح اليوم. pic.twitter.com/NUtGSK6C6w

— القسطل الإخباري (@AlQastalps) July 31, 2026

An AFP journalist at the scene said that between 100 and 150 settlers, including women and children, approached Tell from the west, the direction of Havat Gilad, the home settlement of Benayahu Mellet, 32, who was killed last week,.

The settlers, roughly 10 of whom were armed, marched through fields near Tell, through the nearby town of Sarra and the Nablus neighborhood of Juneid, while army troops stationed along the route periodically dispersed settlers and Palestinians when clashes occurred, the AFP journalist said.

The journalist saw settlers raiding at least one building in Tell, and four in Juneid, where a clash broke out with Palestinian youth, before the army dispersed the crowd, firing tear gas.

The IDF said on Thursday night troops opened fire on a Palestinian suspect who accelerated in a vehicle toward them in the Beita area in the northern West Bank.

Footage published by Palestinian media from the incident appears to show a vehicle driving along a village street.

The car comes to a sudden stop several meters from IDF soldiers, though it is unclear from the footage at what point the soldiers opened fire.

#فيديو | يوثق لحظة إطلاق قوات الاحتلال النار تجاه مركبة المواطن ناصر علي عواد وإصابته في رقبته خلال اقتحام بلدة بيتا جنوب نابلس، مساء اليوم. pic.twitter.com/gPNKZ58GRt

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) July 30, 2026

The soldiers are then seen standing near the vehicle for several seconds without approaching the driver, who was wounded in the incident.

Footage published by Palestinian media appears to show a single bullet hole in the vehicle’s windshield, on the driver’s side.

The IDF said Thursday night that “during an operational activity, a terrorist accelerated his vehicle toward IDF forces and ignored calls to stop. The troops carried out the suspect arrest procedure, which included opening fire at the terrorist, who was neutralized.”

No soldiers were hurt in the incident. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the driver, 59, was shot in the neck and taken to a hospital.

آثار الدماء والرصاص على مركبة استهدفها جنود الاحتلال بإطلاق النار في بلدة بيتا جنوب نابلس، ما أسفر عن إصابة رجلٍ مسن. pic.twitter.com/wuRr5Jb53i

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) July 30, 2026

The IDF’s Military Advocate General’s office has closed a case into a brutal assault of three Palestinians in the West Bank that took place shortly after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, the Haaretz daily revealed on Friday.

The MAG failed to establish enough evidence tying specific settlers and soldiers to the incident, Haaretz reported.

The Palestinian victims were abused for hours on October 12, 2023, when they were beaten, stripped to their underwear, bound and photographed.

Two of them were urinated on, one had cigarettes put out on his body, and another was sexually assaulted by an assailant who tried to sodomize him, according to their testimony.

While attacks against Palestinians by settlers have become a near-daily phenomenon over the past several years, the October 2023 attack was seen as one of the most extreme, making international headlines.

However, Israel has largely failed to crack down on such attacks, with arrests rare, indictments even rarer and convictions rarer still.

The current government has been accused of turning a blind eye to the attacks or even tacitly supporting them.

The former head of the police’s West Bank division is under investigation for refusing to prosecute cases of settler violence in order to curry favor with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.

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