Army races to quell settler violence in the West Bank

Both Israeli and Palestinian civilians were injured in the clashes, which broke out after a 14-year-old Jewish boy went missing.

The aftermath of the attack by Israeli settlers in the village of Mughayir near Ramallah on the West Bank. Picture: AFP

The Israeli military is sending troops to the West Bank to quell settler attacks on Palestinian villages after a 14-year-old Israeli Jewish boy who had gone missing was found dead on Saturday.

The military said both Israeli and Palestinian civilians were injured in the clashes, which broke out on Friday after the boy went missing, threatening to open up another front in the war for Israel.

The Palestinian Authority’s state-run news agency WAFA ­reported that a Palestinian man was killed, dozens injured, and homes and property were burned.

Israeli settlers attacked at least 10 Palestinian villages in the West Bank on Saturday, according to the Israeli human-rights organisation Yesh Din. Settlers shot weapons, burned cars and homes, threw stones, vandalised property, and blocked thoroughfares in the villages, the organisation said.

The Palestinian Authority prime minister’s office described the attacks by settlers as “plans of displacement and expulsions”. “Palestine is continuing its legal efforts to demand that the International Criminal Court prosecute the colonialists and their leaders.”

The Israeli teenager was found dead after a day-long search.

Israeli authorities described his death as the result of a “terrorist ­attack”,

but didn’t give details.

While searches for the boy were still under way, Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian town of al-Mughayyir on Friday, according to rights groups and the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

The Israeli military said it had clamped down on the unrest by Saturday night, and that it bolstered forces in the immediate area, and was sending several companies of troops into the West Bank.

Israeli security forces have kept a tight grip on Palestinian militancy in the West Bank, but have been slow to respond to settler violence. Saturday’s unrest risks an escalation of clashes in the West Bank, where Hamas has repeatedly called on Palestinians to take up arms against Israel. Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant group allied to Hamas, echoed the call in a Saturday statement.

“We urge all Arabs and Muslims to escalate pressure in all arenas to defend our holy sites and our land,” the group said.

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant urged the Israeli public to refrain from vigilantism and to let authorities search for those responsible for the Israeli boy’s death. “Let the security forces act quickly to hunt for the terrorists – revenge actions will make it difficult for our fighters in their mission – the law must not be taken into our own hands,” Mr Gallant wrote on X on Saturday.

Over the past year, Mr Gallant has signed orders to hold a small number of Jewish extremists without trial under Israel’s administrative detention policy after they attacked Palestinian communities. The US has said that Israel hasn’t done enough to contain extremists, many of whom are allied with the far-right flank of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who heads an ultranationalist pro-settler party, said the killing of the teenager indicated Israel needed to enact harsher policies against Palestinians to contain militancy, but neglected to comment on the settler violence.

Last month, the US sanctioned three individual West Bank settlers for violence against and intimidation of Palestinians, as well as two illegal outposts tied to the sanctioned individuals.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL