Security personnel and ambulances arrive at the site of the attack near a Palestinian village. AFPInfoFour Palestinians and one Israeli killed after settlers approach village in occupied West Bank Israel has reinforced troops and locked down large swathes of the occupied West Bank after four Palestinians and an Israeli were killed following a settler attack on a village. The Israeli military claimed that Palestinians attacked a group of Israelis hiking near the Palestinian village of Tell, near Nablus. The assailants stole a weapon and opened fire towards the settlers, the army claimed in a statement on Friday. The military said it “eliminated the terrorist who executed the terror attack”. The Israeli victim was identified as Benayahu Mellet, 32, from the settlement of Havat Gilad. Palestinian officials said four Palestinians were killed and four others injured in the incident. Settlers are also reported to have attacked the Palestinian village of Jit. Jamal Yamin, the head of the village, told Palestinian news agency Wafa that “hundreds” of settlers attacked the area on Friday morning, attempting to break into property and burn it down. Mr Yamin said attacks in the area had “significantly escalated recently”. Israel's military said it had postponed leave for soldiers serving in the West Bank, as it prepares for “extensive counter-terrorism operational activity”. Violence in the West Bank has significantly increased since the Gaza war, with Israel’s military launching major attacks and imposing restrictions on movement. Israeli settlers attack Palestinian civilians on an almost daily basis, leading to record numbers of murders. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has significantly increased the rate of settlement construction. Mr Netanyahu held a security consultation on the violence, his office said in a statement on Friday afternoon. After the meeting, Mr Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to demolish the alleged attacker's home, conduct "a powerful operation in villages that are hotbeds of terror" and impose traffic controls on Palestinians. They also plan to recognise Israeli farming outposts that are currently illegal even under Israeli law.A relative of one of the four Palestinians killed in the clashes weeps outside a hospital. AFPInfoOn Thursday, a 51-year-old Israeli settler was seriously wounded in a stabbing near the West Bank settlement of Elon Moreh. Two Palestinians from nearby Beit Furik suspected of carrying out the attack were shot dead.Israel’s military later said one of its soldiers was lightly wounded in a stabbing near the northern West Bank city of Jenin and that the suspected attacker was shot dead. Nablus governor Ghassan Daghlas told Wafa that he held the Israeli settlers responsible for the violence. He said the unarmed Palestinian villagers confronted marauding settlers to defend themselves. Several Israeli ministers commented on the violence. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Friday that the Palestinian villages in question should “look like the refugee camps in Nablus and Tulkarem”, referring to the near-total destruction of Palestinian refugee communities in major cities in the north of the West Bank. The Israeli military has displaced thousands, saying the camps harbour terrorism. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said those villages should “be treated like Beit Hanoun in Gaza”, one of the most areas most devastated by the war.“I am on my way to the Prime Minister for a small cabinet meeting, where I will demand that the [Israeli army] be ordered to wipe out from the air and through D9 [bulldozers] the homes of terrorists and their supporters, and to exact from the terrorists the price they deserve.”Updated: July 24, 2026, 12:19 PM