Israeli settlers rampage through West Bank village; three Palestinians killed by IDF fire

A car reportedly set on fire by settlers in Kafr Malik in the West Bank on 25 June 2025

Jack Khoury and Hagar Shezaf report in Haaretz on 25 June 2025 :

Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli army gunfire and seven were wounded next to Ramallah in the West Bank on Wednesday evening.

According to the IDF, dozens of Israeli settlers set fire to property in the village and threw stones at residents. IDF forces who arrived at the scene claimed that several people from the village fired at them and threw stones, prompting the soldiers to return fire, which killed three and wounded several others.

The IDF said five settlers were arrested and handed over to the police. All five were released the following morning after being cleared of any suspicion, according to the Israel Police.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, seven people were wounded in the incident, one of them seriously.

Local residents told Haaretz that dozens of settlers raided the Palestinian village, set cars and homes on fire, while village residents, along with Palestinians from the area, tried to fend them off.

Local resident Jaafer Hamayel said that it was the Israeli army that killed the three Palestinians: “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. ”

“The settlers also fired handguns,” he added, “but those who fired assault rifles with laser designators straight at the youth were the army.”  Hamayel said that the settlers arrived at the village as it was grieving the death of 13-year-old Moataz Aamar Hamayel, who was killed by IDF fire on Monday.  “Our children and our homes are in danger,” he said. “They shot someone while he was at home, [the army] fired, and the settlers stood behind them.”

Five Israelis were arrested following the incident, the IDF said.

Israeli forces were fired upon from “within the village,” according to the statement, and stones were thrown at the troops. Therefore, the army said it opened fire at the stone throwers and from the source of the shooting, which came from the village.

An officer was lightly wounded, according to the statement, and the IDF confirmed it had identified casualties following the incident.

The Democrats party leader Yair Golan called the incident a “violent Jewish pogrom” and accused the Netanyahu government of continuing to “support and encourage the violent gangs operating in the territories”.  “Only a clear decision in favor of a Jewish and democratic state of law can stop the rioters and the incitement before they dismantle Israel from within, Golan wrote on X.

Hussein al-Sheikh, the deputy to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, posted on X: “The government of Israel, with its behaviour and decisions, is pushing the region to explode”.  “We call on the international community to intervene urgently to protect our Palestinian people,” he said.

Earlier Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said that 15-year-old Rian Thamr Houshiyye was killed by IDF gunfire at his home village of al-Yamun near Jenin, in the northern West Bank

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