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Tell clashes and deaths
Four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed near the Palestinian village of Tal, southwest of Nablus, after Israeli forces said they received reports that Israeli civilians hiking in the area had been attacked, and the confrontation unfolded in the area restricted to Israeli civilians.
“The Israeli military has launched “counterterrorism” operations and ordered a curfew in the occupied West Bank following an outbreak of violence in which six people were killed”
The Israeli military said a Palestinian man took a weapon from Israeli security personnel from the nearby settlement of Havat Gilad and opened fire, wounding several Israelis before being killed, and it identified 32-year-old Benayahu Mellet as one of the Israelis killed.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli soldiers shot and killed four Palestinians in the village of Tell, while the military reported the deaths of two soldiers, and it said it was preparing for an "extensive" counterterror operation in the West Bank.
In the video described by the Israeli military and circulated by the military correspondent for Israel's Army Radio, two armed men in civilian clothing and at least one Israeli soldier were shown pointing weapons at Palestinians gathered in a field, before residents appeared to disarm one of the men and a resident opened fire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had conducted a security assessment into Friday's shooting with the defence minister and the military's chief of staff, as Israeli troops set up roadblocks around Tal and Nablus and said they were pursuing individuals involved in the incident.
Reprisals and competing narratives
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said nearby Palestinian villages should be cleared of their inhabitants and new settlements built, calling it "This is our appropriate Zionist answer to terrorists and terrorism, and to the desire to harm our grip on the areas of our country," while Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz called for more troops and razing of homes of the accused in Tell.
In a statement carried by the BBC, Labour Minister Tahmina Akhter said the government would launch an immediate investigation and would "hold the owners fully accountable," but in the West Bank coverage here, the parallel political language came from Israeli leaders treating the clash as terrorism and demanding forceful action.
Yuli Novak, the executive director of B'Tselem, warned that "Israeli violence is spreading across the West Bank, fueled by Israeli politicians openly calling for revenge," as the Israeli military announced it was preparing to apprehend "dozens of Palestinians" involved in the incident.
The Guardian reported that Netanyahu and Katz said, "The security forces must be allowed to act freely and with full force against terrorism," while the Palestinian foreign ministry condemned what it described as a "massacre committed by settlers in partnership with the occupation forces in the village of Tell."
Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said the incident took place after Israeli settlers stormed Tal under the "pretext that they were hiking in the area," and she described a pattern in which the Israeli army prevents injured Palestinians from accessing medical help by setting up siege-like conditions around the city.
What comes next
After the Tell confrontation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz called for collecting weapons and revoking work permits in the village, and they also said they were accelerating the legalization of farm outposts and establishment of new ones.
“Four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed near a Palestinian village on Friday in a confrontation that added to a growing toll over recent weeks as Israeli settler violence has intensified against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank”
The Israeli army announced it had imposed a curfew on the Palestinian villages of Tell and Bureij, as well as the nearby Jewish settlement of Shiloh, and it said it was treating the event as a terror attack while preparing a "large-scale" operation to go after "dozens of Palestinians" involved in the incident.
The Guardian said troops were surrounding the town of Nablus and reported security forces entering the hospital to arrest those wounded, while the Israeli military said it planned to apprehend "dozens of Palestinians" involved in the incident.
In the aftermath, the Israeli government also moved to expand settlements, with Netanyahu saying his government would establish new settler outposts and legalize more existing ones, as CBS News reported that Netanyahu vowed a forceful response after the clash near Havat Gilad and the neighboring Palestinian village of Tell.
The UN called for "urgent action" to end escalating violence in the West Bank amid "unabated" Israeli settler attacks, with Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, saying Israel must "protect Palestinian communities" and hold those responsible for attacks accountable.
