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Deadly clash triggers crackdown
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israel Defense Forces to take "forceful steps" in the West Bank after a shooting near Havat Gilad settlement and the Palestinian village of Tell left one Israeli settler dead and three wounded, while Palestinian officials reported four Palestinians killed and four wounded in the same incident.
Netanyahu also ordered the home of the man who killed civil defense squad member Benayahu Mellet to be demolished, weapons seized, work permits revoked, troops reinforced, checkpoints set up, and traffic routes separated, and he instructed accelerating the regularization of existing settlements and establishing new ones.
In a separate framing of the same deadly clash, CBS News said Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced "a series of steps" including raids in Palestinian villages suspected of hosting militants and "accelerating the legalization of farm outposts and establishment of new ones."
The violence erupted near Havat Gilad and Tell in territory occupied by Israel since 1967, and the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry reported four Palestinians killed and four others wounded in the incident.
Reprisals, raids, and competing narratives
Palestinian Fatah leader Essam Saifi, speaking to Reuters in a phone call, said about 25 to 30 Jewish settlers initially attacked the eastern area of Tal and tried to break into two houses there, and he described how residents came out and the settlers opened fire.
In the same Reuters account relayed by France 24, Saifi said the Israelis returned and attacked the western part of the town, striking a minor with a weapon, and that chaos followed before the Israeli military arrived and started shooting, along with the settlers.
Netanyahu vowed a forceful response after the clash, telling reporters that his government would "act with full force against the terrorists and those who orchestrate and sponsor them," while the Israeli military described the incident as a violent confrontation between dozens of Palestinians and Israeli civilians.
The Guardian reported that Netanyahu and Israel Katz said "The security forces must be allowed to act freely and with full force against terrorism," and it also said the military planned to apprehend "dozens of Palestinians" involved in the incident.
What comes next in the West Bank
After the Tell clash, Israeli officials said they would impose roadblocks around Nablus and Tell and deploy reinforcements across the area, while the Israeli military announced preparations for "extensive counterterrorism operational activity" in the sector.
The Guardian said the military planned to apprehend "dozens of Palestinians" involved in the incident and that Netanyahu also called for the building of new settlement outposts in the area and the legalisation of existing outposts.
In a broader tally tied to the war in Gaza, Naharnet said Israeli figures show at least 47 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations since the start of the Gaza war, and it added that AFP tallied at least 1,094 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers over the same period.
Against that backdrop, Le Monde.fr quoted Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas denouncing Netanyahu’s move, saying "the continuation of these crimes and daily violations against the Palestinian people is pushing the occupied West Bank toward an explosion" as Netanyahu ordered new settler outposts on July 24.
