On the morning of 24 July, a sequence of armed confrontations in and around the Palestinian village of Tell, southwest of Nablus, resulted in the deaths of four Palestinians and one Israeli, according to Palestinian and Israeli health officials. The Palestinian ministry of health reported four fatalities and four wounded, three critically, from live fire by Israeli forces and settlers. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service confirmed the death of a man in his thirties and the evacuation of two others with gunshot wounds near the settlement of Havat Gilad. Israeli military spokespeople said soldiers were dispatched after reports of an attack on Israeli civilians hiking in the area.

The Israeli military stated that a Palestinian assailant seized a weapon from a security guard who had arrived at the scene and opened fire on the hikers. In contrast, Palestinian officials and local leaders from Tell described an assault by about 25 to 30 Israeli settlers who attempted to break into homes, drawing residents out to confront them. Essam Saifi, a local Fatah leader, told Reuters that settlers first attacked the eastern part of the village, then returned to the western side half an hour later, striking a minor with a weapon. When the Israeli military arrived, Saifi said, soldiers joined the settlers in shooting at Palestinians. Video footage broadcast by regional networks later appeared to show settlers firing under military protection.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency security meeting and pledged to “act with full force against the terrorists and those who send them.” Defence minister Israel Katz and the military chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, ordered a “massive deployment of forces” to the area, imposed a closure on Nablus and the village of Tell, and set up roadblocks. The army’s statement later indicated troops were preparing for “intensive operations to combat terrorism” throughout the West Bank, and soldiers’ leave was cancelled across the sector. Far-right cabinet members demanded even tougher measures: national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for treating Palestinian villages like Beit Hanoun in Gaza, and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich demanded an “iron fist” against the village he held responsible.

The violence is the latest in a year-long surge across the occupied West Bank, where more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements deemed illegal under international law, alongside three million Palestinians. The Palestinian health ministry says at least 82 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of 2026, including 21 by settler gunfire. According to an AFP tally, Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,094 Palestinians since the Gaza war began. Israeli official figures record at least 47 Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks or during military operations in the same period. The European Union has previously signalled its intention to impose sanctions on extremist settlers who attack Palestinians. Israeli media reported that the army is simultaneously reinforcing the West Bank while remaining on alert for a possible confrontation with Iran, and has begun pulling some troops from the Lebanon and Gaza fronts to redeploy inside the West Bank. As the closure of the Nablus area remained in effect into the weekend, the military continued to search for suspects and no date had been set for the funeral of the four Palestinian victims.