Four Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed in a shooting in the northern West Bank, health officials said on Friday. Several more people were seriously wounded.
The serious incident in the Palestinian village of Tell, near Nablus, is the deadliest attack in the West Bank this year and has the potential to lead to a series of reprisals between Israeli-backed settlers and local Palestinian communities.
A Palestinian resident of the village said Israeli settlers had come to the village early on Friday morning and that they were soon joined by the military. The Israeli military said it had come to the aid of Israeli hikers.
The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately clear, but video of the attack posted online has shown multiple people who appear to be Palestinians on the ground in a field near the village who appear to have been shot.
The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said the four Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces. All four were from the same family and have the same last name, according to people from the village.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services did not say who had killed the Israeli, a man in his 30s. Social media channels run by settler communities said he was from an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.
Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has flared in recent days.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will meet his defence minister and chief of staff to discuss a response, his office said. A statement said Israel would “act forcefully against the terrorists”, although the incident has not been investigated.
Israeli settlers have called for a wave of attacks to “erase” the village.
All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
Palestinian health officials said they were treating four injured Palestinians, three in critical condition. Israel’s rescue service said two injured Israelis were being airlifted out of the West Bank.
The Israeli military said it had imposed a “temporary cordon” around Nablus and Tell.
