Palestinian teens killed during settler attack on West Bank village, officials say
Al-Mughayyir's council says they were trying to stop settlers stealing sheep, but the Israeli military says they threw stones at its troops.
Palestinian teens killed during settler attack on West Bank village, officials say
The deaths in al-Mughayyir come amid a recent surge in settler violence in the occupied West Bank
Funerals have been held for two Palestinian teenagers whom local officials say were killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers during an attack on their village in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
The village council in al-Mughayyir told the BBC that Omar al-Nassan, 19, and Khalil Abu Alia, 16, died as they attempted to stop Israeli settlers from stealing sheep, and that clashes then erupted.
The Israeli military said its forces had gone into the village to provide security for an Israeli civilian and police officers trying to recover livestock.
It said troops fired on and hit what it described as "key instigators" of a "violent disturbance", during which Palestinians threw stones at its soldiers.
The deaths come amid a recent rise in settler violence in the West Bank, with the UN recording more than three attacks a day on average so far this year.
Al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah, has been hit by repeated settler attacks.
According to UN figures, at least 81 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Twenty-five of those deaths have taken place in the context of settler attacks.
Over the same period, the UN says three Israelis, including both security personnel and civilians, have been killed by Palestinians in the West Bank.
The Israeli military has come under growing criticism for taking part in settler attacks on Palestinians, standing by, or failing to prosecute those responsible.
On Thursday, Israel's police force said a 19-year-old settler had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in an attack on the Palestinian village of Qusra on Saturday. It is the first such arrest in weeks of attacks on Qusra.
Dozens of masked settlers came down on the village, encircling a house while Palestinians were trapped inside, and hurling stones.
Israeli soldiers deployed to the scene reportedly detained the trapped Palestinians but not the settlers, letting them leave. The Israeli military said troops removed "rioters" and protected residents.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a future state - during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.
The settlements are illegal under international law.
In a separate development on Wednesday, Israeli forces demolished the Palestinian village of Khirbet al-Tabban in the Masafer Yatta area.
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said the village's 70 residents, including 28 children, received no warning before the demolition and were not allowed to remove their property.
It said the demolition was the most significant in Masafer Yatta since May 2025.
In the 1980s, the Israeli military declared about 3,000 hectares in the South Hebron Hills, which includes Masafer Yatta, a restricted firing zone for training purposes.
The military says the Palestinian homes there were built illegally.
In 2022, Israel's Supreme Court ruled to permit the demolition of homes in the firing zone and the expulsion of their residents, who argued that such a move violated international law and that their families had lived there since before the State of Israel was established.
B'Tselem says Khirbet al-Tabban is the 66th Palestinian community to be expelled by Israeli authorities since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, which it alleges is part of a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" being carried out in the West Bank.