Israeli forces, armed settlers kill 3 Palestinians in rising West Bank violence
- Violence brought to eight the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or armed settlers since Friday
- The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has seen a surge in violence since the Gaza war
Armed Israeli settlers shot dead two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Monday, hours after Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teen during a military raid, officials said.
Monday’s violence brought to eight the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or armed settlers since Friday, as Palestinian authorities reported increased settler rampages across the West Bank.
Salah Bani Jaber, mayor of Aqraba, a town near the northern city of Nablus, witnessed Monday’s settler attack. He told Reuters that some 50 settlers, many of them armed, attacked members of his community and fired at Palestinian youth, killing two of them and wounding others.
“There were Israeli soldiers at the scene who stood idly by watching the settlers,” he said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said soldiers blocked its ambulances from reaching the area and tending to the wounded.