Two Palestinian Teens Killed, Village Sealed for 20 Hours as West Bank Settler Violence Escalates

Israeli forces sealed the only entrance to the West Bank village of al-Mughayyir for more than 20 straight hours this week, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, as reported by Middle East Eye. The gate was opened for only a few minutes at a time, village council head Amin Abu Aliya told Wafa, which he said was meant to drive Palestinian residents out of the area. The siege followed a Friday raid in which Israeli troops entered the village alongside armed settlers who attacked residents and tried to steal livestock, according to Middle East Eye, citing Haaretz. Settlers made off with 15 lambs and left one sheep wounded. Three Palestinians were hurt, one by live fire and two by beatings, and settlers and soldiers blocked an ambulance from reaching them, the outlet reported. Days later, according to The Guardian, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian teenagers in al-Mughayyir after settlers entered under police and military escort to seize sheep they claimed belonged to them. Khalil Abu Alia, 16, was shot in the neck on his own doorstep, his English teacher Waheed Abu Naim told the Guardian. Omar al-Nassan, 19, was shot twice, once in the back. Both died before reaching a hospital. An Israeli military spokesperson told the Guardian that troops fired on "key instigators" after Palestinians threw stones and cinder blocks during the sheep seizure, saying "hits were identified." The spokesperson did not provide evidence establishing settler ownership of the animals or confirm any investigation into the alleged theft. Whether al-Nassan was shot by a soldier or a settler could not be determined from available reports. Abu Naim told the Guardian that five students from his school have now been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers this year alone, and that his own brother was killed by settlers in April. The school has since built a higher security wall and made contingency teaching plans ahead of the new semester.

Qusra

A Home Seized With the Owner Inside In a separate incident Saturday in the village of Qusra, near Nablus, Israeli settlers stormed the property of Louay Adli and seized his home while he was still inside, CNN reported. Adli said 60 to 70 settlers surrounded the house, hurling stones, while soldiers stood on the other side and later fired tear gas at the home rather than at the crowd throwing rocks. He and six others fled to the roof to escape the gas, he told CNN, before Israeli security forces arrested and blindfolded him and warned him not to return. The Israeli military told CNN it used "proportionate force" against a Palestinian it accused of resisting arrest, and acknowledged "dozens of rioters" had barricaded themselves in the home before being "dispersed using various means." Authorities seized three vehicles connected to the raid, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement cited by CNN. As of Sunday, no arrests of the settlers involved had been announced, and Israeli police told CNN the investigation is ongoing. Middle East Eye separately reported that Israel's military installed a new gate at Qusra's main entrance and erected three new roadblocks around the Ras al-Ain hill this week, cutting off besieged homes from the rest of the village and severing residents' access to water, electricity and food.

Netanyahu Condemns Attack on NBC Crew

In a third, separate incident in the village of Jalud, masked settlers attacked an NBC News crew and local Palestinians, according to Fox News. Netanyahu called it a "criminal act of violence" committed by "a handful of rioters" and called for arrests and prosecution. Israeli security forces confiscated three vehicles and opened an investigation, Fox News reported. The Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry, in a statement reported by Middle East Eye, called the pattern across these villages a deliberate policy of "killing, terrorism and forced displacement" and urged international intervention. The Guardian's own reporting used the term "ethnic cleansing" in its framing of the events. According to AP News, the US ambassador to Israel called violent settlers "terrorists" following weeks of unrest, and Al Jazeera-linked reporting noted the ambassador, Mike Huckabee, visited the region as the raids and arrests continued. Fox News noted that global coverage of West Bank violence, while real and worth reporting, has swelled even as larger humanitarian crises, including one in Sudan affecting over 33 million people according to the outlet, receive comparatively little sustained attention. Israeli police told CNN their investigation into the Qusra raid is ongoing, but no timeline for arrests has been given. Whether the soldier or settler who killed Omar al-Nassan will face any accountability, and whether the IDF will release evidence supporting its claim that settlers owned the seized sheep, remain open questions with no answers from Israeli authorities as of Sunday.