A 19-year-old Palestinian man was fatally wounded and four others injured when Israeli settlers fired on a village in the occupied West Bank.
Nasrallah Abu Siyam was the first Palestinian to be killed by Israeli settler gunfire in 2026, news agency Wafa reported.
His death on Wednesday came amid a wave of settler violence that has killed and injured Palestinians and displaced entire communities.
Israel’s far-right government is pushing through major legal changes apparently to hasten annexation of the West Bank.
Mr Abu Siyam’s killing took place in Mukhmas, north-east of Jerusalem. The village and nearby Bedouin communities have faced increasing attacks since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Settlers are often accompanied by Israeli soldiers. Residents complain that the soldiers do nothing to stop the settlers or protect Palestinians and even participate in the violence.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since 2023, according to the UN.
On Monday, Peace Now, an anti-settler group, accused Israel of moving to expand the borders of Jerusalem for the first time since 1967. This, it said, would amount to “annexation through the back door”.
A day earlier, the Israeli government approved a plan to allow land registration in the West Bank for the first time since 1967. This gives Israeli authorities the power to irreversibly determine ownership of land in the Palestinian territory.
Last week, the government unveiled measures to make it easier for Israelis to buy Palestinian land in the West Bank. These would also allow the state, instead of Palestinian authorities, to exercise more control over sensitive religious sites, including in Hebron, the West Bank’s most populous city.
