Israeli settlers call them ‘hikes.’ Palestinians keep ending up dead

Settlers walking through Tell under IDF escort, late July 2026

Matan Golan and Josh Breiner report in Haaretz on 23 August 2026:

The IDF and the police are disclaiming responsibility for Friday’s incident in which 17-year-old Palestinian Karim Sanad Raja Shalaldeh was shot dead by Israelis near the West Bank village of Sa’ir, north of Hebron, after settlers entered Area B.

The “hike,” as both agencies called it, was not coordinated with either of them. While the army said that unauthorized hikes endanger participants “and divert soldiers’ efforts away from defensive and counterterrorism activities,” the Judea and Samaria District Police claimed that such hikes do not require coordination at all.

The district police say responsibility for the area lies with the IDF’s Central Command.

“The army is trying to distance itself from the incident with a lot of words, even though it was the army’s responsibility from start to finish,” a senior police official said. “The army should not have allowed them to enter.”

In practice, however, the police also turn a blind eye to these “hikes,” and it is doubtful whether advance knowledge of the settlers’ plans would have prompted them to act to prevent friction. This contrasts with the police’s treatment of left-wing activists who come to the West Bank. Police intelligence has led the army to issue orders restricting their activities.

According to the police investigation, the “hike” involved a group of ultra-Orthodox residents of Beitar Ilit, a Haredi settlement near Jerusalem. Footage shows a white security vehicle and at least one Israeli carrying a military-issue weapon, while gunshots can be heard.

The police said that a security coordinator arrived at the scene and responded to stone-throwing that endangered the hikers’ lives. They also said the investigation had found that “these were not extreme acts of violence, but rather citizens who were hiking in the area.”

It remains unclear, however, whether the security coordinator was the one who shot and killed the 17-year-old boy, who was suspected of throwing stones at the settlers, or whether he was shot by a member of an additional military force that arrived at the scene.

The police statement ignored a fire that broke out in a nearby building, which Palestinians said had been set by the settlers. Instead, the police said they “view with severity the attack on the hikers, who did nothing to provoke it during their time in Area B, which Israelis are permitted to enter.”

The law does permit Israelis to enter Area B, but under the Oslo Accords, civilian authority there is vested in the Palestinian Authority. For Palestinians, these “hikes” through their communities are a display of Jewish supremacy that puts them at risk.

This was not the first time “hikers” had reached the building on the outskirts of the village. Several videos from recent months show settlers approaching it on an ATV from the direction of a nearby outpost, a few hundred meters away. Their arrival has often led to confrontations in which IDF troops have used crowd control measures against Palestinians.

Last March, a group of backpack-wearing settlers arrived at the building as part of a “hike,” with about half of them carrying rifles. They were filmed firing toward the village. No one was wounded. An IDF force that later arrived at the scene was filmed speaking with the settlers, who then calmly continued on their way. Palestinian media reported that the soldiers used tear gas against local residents.

“Without question, we are initiating friction, and we’re also proud of that,” Elisha Yered said in a March interview with the popular right-wing Hebrew-language podcast “Al Hamashma’ut.” Yered is a prominent settler activist and former spokesman for Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech. He was a suspect in the August 2023 killing of a Palestinian man but was never indicted.

Settler “hikes” held on Fridays deep inside areas under PA jurisdiction are a longstanding phenomenon in the West Bank. Settlers describe them as “conquering the land by foot.”

In an interview with the Shabbat leaflet “Gilui Da’at,” one of the founders of David and Ahikam – a hiking group considered relatively moderate – said one of the group’s first decisions was that, as far as its members were concerned, “there is no division of the territory into A, B and C; there is only Eretz Yisrael.”

The frequency of these “hikes” appears to have increased in recent months, amid growing coverage in Shabbat leaflets. The hikers often seek to reach archaeological sites and springs deep inside areas under Palestinian civilian authority. Many local residents lock themselves in their homes out of fear while these excursions are taking place.

The “hikes” often include families with children, escorted by armed settlers, and take place without prior notification to the army, as happened last month in the village of Tell.

A week after the incident in Tell, in which two Israelis and four Palestinians were killed in a clash that began after armed settlers entered a nearby Palestinian town and a Palestinian resident seized a weapon from one of them, settlers conducted another “hike” deep inside Area A, on the outskirts of Nablus. Young children also took part.

The Red Crescent reported that a Palestinian was shot by soldiers during that incident, while Palestinian media reported that settlers vandalized gravestones. IDF troops were filmed accompanying the settlers and using crowd control measures to secure their passage.

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