Sawt Falasteen - Palestinians bury four killed in West Bank clash with Israeli settlers

Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has surged since the Gaza war began with Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, and the clash in Tell has already had political repercussions.

On Friday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that, following the deaths of two Israelis in the village, he would allow the establishment of more settlements in the region.

Israel, he said, would conduct more raids in Palestinian villages suspected of hosting militants and accelerate "the legalisation of farm outposts and establishment of new ones".

All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law, while outposts are small settlements usually established without government approval.

Walid Zidan, head of the Tell village council, told AFP that "Families of the four martyrs held a common funeral early this morning ... but the army restricted who could attend and only about 30 people were able to be there."

On Friday, about 20 Israelis from a nearby settlement entered the village and clashed with residents, Zidan said.

A Palestinian villager seized an Israeli's weapon and shot dead one settler, leading an emergency response team from a nearby settlement to rush to the scene and more gunfire that left four Palestinians and a second Israeli dead, the Israeli military said.

Israeli forces closed gates and checkpoints throughout the West Bank, severely obstructing movement. Troops patrolled Tell, moving between different parts of the village, while residents offered condolences to the families of the four men killed, AFP journalists reported.

A group of settlers was also seen alongside soldiers at a house under construction in the village.

By the time of the funeral, movement was still restricted for villagers, and Zidan told AFP that the military was still present in the village Saturday morning, having detained 51 residents for questioning, and released just six.

"Every person who was brought in was assigned a number, which was written on their forehead," said Saif Hamza, who was released after questioning.

Zidan said he still struggled to comprehend what had happened in the village.

"I am in my own home, and someone comes and assaults me," he said.

"Under what law? Under what moral or legal authority? I am in my own home, on my own land. By what right you, as settlers, come here?"

- Surging violence -

Ghassan Daghlas, the governor of the Nablus region, which includes Tell, attended a funerary prayer at the Nabuls hospital where the bodies lay before the burial, his office said.

He was joined by crowds of mourners from Tell and across the Nablus governorate.

An AFP journalist at the hospital reported the four deceased Palestinians' bodies were laid on stretchers and wrapped in Palestinian flags while friends and relatives said their good-byes.

Ahmed Ramadan, father of one of the deceased, told AFP: "I was asked to go to the hospital... and when I arrived, I found my son had been killed."

Ismail al-Saifi, another resident of Tell, told AFP the settlers' presence in the village was not an isolated incident, and that locals had decided to fight back on Friday.

"The young men bravely confronted them to defend their homes and lands, which was only natural given the frequency of these attacks," Saifi said.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, but in recent years the number of settlements in the Palestinian territory -- which are illegal under international law -- has soared.

Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, home to around three million Palestinians.

Israeli figures show that at least 48 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations since the start of the Gaza war.

According to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,097 Palestinians, including both militants and civilians, over the same period.

K.Hassan--SF-PST