On Wednesday night, Jewish settlers attacked the town of Kafr Malik east of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, resulting in the killing of three Palestinians by the Israeli military.
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, dozens of settlers rampaged through the town, setting homes and cars on fire as residents from the town and neighboring villages attempted to confront them. Local sources told Al Jazeera that the Israeli military provided protection for the settlers and fired on the Palestinian residents.
Jaafer Hamayel, a resident of Kafr Malik, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the military was responsible for killing the three Palestinians but that the settlers also opened fire with handguns.
“The settlers attacked and set on fire a house in the village, and the youth came outside to protect it. They set cars and houses on fire, and the army shot at us,” Hamayel said.
“The settlers also fired handguns. But those who fired assault rifles with laser designators straight at the youth were the army,” Hamayel added.
The Israeli military claimed that its forces were fired at from “within the village” and that the Israeli troops returned fire.
Hamayel said the attack occurred while the town was still mourning Ammar Mutaz Hamayel, a 13-year-old boy killed by the IDF in Kafr Malik on Monday.
In a separate incident on Wednesday, WAFA reported that a 15-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by the Israeli military during a raid in the town of al-Yamoun, west of Jenin. Settler attacks were also reported in other parts of the West Bank, including near Nablus, where a gang of settlers uprooted 80 olive trees.
Israeli military and settler violence has surged in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, and at least 950 Palestinians, including around 200 children, have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in that time. Settlers have been emboldened by the Netanyahu government and also by the new Trump administration, which openly opposes the idea of a Palestinian state and the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements.
