Israeli fire kills Palestinian in West Bank settler clash

A Palestinian man was killed and nine people were injured during an Israeli settler attack followed by army intervention in an occupied West Bank village on Wednesday, according to the mayor and the Palestinian health ministry.

The Palestinian health ministry said 44-year-old Ali al-Bazzari died and nine others were injured "as a result of an assault by occupation forces and settlers" on the village of Burqa, north of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

The Israeli military said troops and border police forces had been dispatched to the area after reports of "rock hurling toward an Israeli civilian, who was injured".

During an ensuing confrontation between dozens of Palestinians and Israeli settlers, "a security personnel member and an additional Israeli civilian opened fire" at the scene, the military said.

"A commander operating in the area identified a terrorist running toward him while carrying a suspicious object and neutralised him," it added.

Al-Bazzari was a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces, according to an obituary that it published on Wednesday.

AFP photos from Rafidia Hospital in Nablus showed his sons, wife and mother mourning over his body, with his sons in tears.

The incident occurred on the third anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attacks on Israel, which triggered the Gaza war.

Violence has surged in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, in the three years since.

Wednesday's attack took place as farmers from Burqa were picking olives on land between the cities of Nablus and Tulkarem, according to village mayor Ammar Salah.

"Clashes broke out between young men from the village and settlers before the (Israeli) occupation forces intervened and opened live fire at the Palestinians, killing the young man Al-Bazzari and injuring others," Salah told AFP.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said in separate statements that its teams treated three people wounded by live fire, one of them seriously, and five people injured after being assaulted and beaten in Burqa, and transported the injured to hospitals.

The organisation added that Israeli forces "assaulted and beat ambulance crews" and detained staff as they tried to reach the wounded in the area.

According to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli forces or settlers have killed 1,115 Palestinians in the territory since the start of the Gaza war.

Israeli figures show at least 49 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations during the same period.

Excluding east Jerusalem, around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, along with more than 500,000 Israelis living in settlements considered illegal under international law.

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