West Bank settler violence escalates after deadly shooting near Nablus

More than 130 Palestinians have been detained in weekend raids across the occupied West Bank after a deadly shooting near the Palestinian village of Tell, south of Nablus, triggered a fresh wave of violence. The Israeli military said the detentions took place during operations over the weekend following Friday's clash between settlers and Palestinians. The shooting killed two Israelis and four Palestinians, making it the deadliest single attack in the West Bank so far this year.

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Settlers remained camped at the site of the shooting on the edge of Tell on Sunday, according to reports from the area. One group of about six settlers, believed to be from the nearby Havat Gilad community, warned people to leave the area quickly before they would shoot. The violence also spread to neighbouring villages, including Sarra and Qusra, where residents reported arson, damage to property and anti-Palestinian graffiti.

In Sarra, settlers used bulldozers to destroy olive trees and set fire to cars and houses, causing serious damage to the home of Ahmad Rawhi Abdallah Turabi. In Qusra, south-east of Nablus, a partially constructed mosque was firebombed and spray-painted with words including "revenge". The mayor of Qusra, Abdel Azim Wadi, said the graffiti also included the phrases "Mosques don't threaten us" and "Israel will be established with blood".

The weekend attacks came as the community in Tell mourned the four Palestinians killed in Friday's shooting, all members of the Ramadan family. The latest unrest matters because it adds to already high tensions in the West Bank, where settler violence, military raids and Palestinian attacks have repeatedly fed one another. The occupied territory has seen a long-running cycle of confrontation, but the scale of the weekend detentions and the spread of retaliatory attacks across several villages point to a rapid deterioration in security.

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The incident also highlights the vulnerability of civilian homes, farmland and religious sites in areas where Israeli forces, settlers and Palestinian communities live in close proximity. The shooting on Friday remains central to the escalation, although there are differing accounts of how it unfolded. A group of Israelis from Havat Gilad said they were hiking along the edge of Tell when they were attacked.

The aftermath has since become a wider confrontation, with settlers staying near the scene and residents in nearby villages reporting further attacks. The Israeli military has not publicly detailed all of the detentions or the full scope of the weekend operations in the material provided. What remains unclear is whether the detentions will continue and whether the settler attacks will spread further beyond the villages already affected.

It is also not clear how the authorities will respond to the firebombing of the mosque and the destruction of homes and olive trees. The situation around Tell, Sarra and Qusra is likely to remain tense while the consequences of Friday's shooting are still unfolding.

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