Israeli settlers shot dead two Palestinians in the West Bank on Monday, Israeli and Palestinian officials said, as tensions continued to rise in the Israeli-occupied territory.
The Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health identified the two as Abdelrahman Bani Fadel, 30, and Mohammad Bani Jama, 21. The circumstances of his death near the town of Akrabah remain unclear.
The Israeli military says two people were killed in a “violent exchange” between Israeli settlers and a Palestinian, following reports that a Palestinian attacked an Israeli shepherd. . The military said an initial investigation showed the gunshots were “not fired” by Israeli soldiers.
The two Palestinians appeared to have been shot dead by Israeli settlers at the scene, an Israeli security official said on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
The killings raised fears that the West Bank could become a new front for the country, which is already engaged in a seven-month war in the Gaza Strip.
Approximately 500,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank coexist with approximately 2.7 million Palestinians under Israeli military occupation. More than 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces there and in East Jerusalem since the war began on October 7, according to the United Nations.
A new wave of violence has hit the West Bank in recent days.
On Friday, a 14-year-old Israeli boy went missing, leading to a riot by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian village of al-Mughair. Jihad Abu Aliyah, a 25-year-old resident, was shot dead during the mob attack, village chief Amin Abu Aliyah said.
Teenager Binyamin Asimer was found dead on Saturday after an intensive search. Israeli authorities announced that he had been killed in an act of terrorism and vowed to track down the perpetrators. In response, Israeli settlers, some of whom were armed, carried out a series of mob attacks on Palestinian towns, torching homes and cars, Palestinian witnesses said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Israelis to allow security forces to search for Asimer's killer, but did not condemn the mob attacks on Palestinians. Human rights groups have long accused Israel of turning a blind eye to settler violence and rarely bringing perpetrators to justice.
in picture A copy distributed on Sunday by Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group that tracks Jewish extremist violence in the West Bank, shows hooded figures setting a car on fire and Israeli soldiers nearby without intervening. The video shows them watching.
The UN human rights office said on Tuesday that Israeli security forces “must immediately cease active participation in and support of settler attacks against Palestinians.”
“Israeli authorities must instead prevent further attacks, including holding those responsible to account,” said office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani. “Those suspected of criminal acts, including murder and other unlawful killings, must be brought to justice,” she added.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller condemned Asimere's killing in a statement Monday. But he also said the U.S. government is “increasingly concerned by the violence against Palestinian civilians and their property in the West Bank following the disappearance of Asimer.”
“We strongly condemn these murders and our thoughts are with their loved ones,” Miller said. “The violence must stop. Civilians are never legitimate targets.”
Nick Cumming-Bruce Contributed to the report.