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Settlers rampage across West Bank amid burial of civil security officer shot by Palestinian

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Young settler extremists rioted in Palestinian towns across the West Bank on Friday afternoon, as a funeral was held for an Israeli civil security squad member who was shot dead by a Palestinian who managed to snatch his gun while fending off a settler raid of his village.

Settler rampages were reported in over a dozen villages across the northern West Bank, where several hundred Israelis hurled stones, torched homes and reportedly wounded over a dozen Palestinians.

Weekends regularly see an uptick in settler violence, as hundreds of national religious yeshiva students often join friends living in illegal outposts throughout the West Bank from which they descend to carry out attacks on Palestinians in larger numbers than during the week.

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But this weekend is poised to be particularly violent after the Friday morning gunfight in the northern West Bank village of Tell. A group of settlers — some well underage and accompanied by armed adults — raided the town, claiming they were on a hike, though the army later said that the visit into Areas A and B where Israelis are barred had not been coordinated.

Palestinians sought to repel the raiding settlers and a clash broke out, with one of the Palestinians managing to snatch the weapon of Benayahu Mellet, a 32-year-old member of the neighboring Havat Gilad settlement’s civil security squad.

A gunfight ensued, with the Palestinian fatally shooting Mellet along with Maj. Yuval Ezra, an IDF officer who had been dispatched to the scene.

Ezra managed to shoot dead the attacker before succumbing to his wounds, and three other Palestinians were also killed in the gunfight. In addition, two Israelis — one critically and one seriously — and four Palestinians were wounded, three of whom critically.

The punishment: More settlements

Mellet was laid to rest in Havat Gilad later Friday afternoon. A reserves commander in the Jerusalem Brigade’s 8119th Battalion, the master sergeant received a military burial because he was recognized as a fallen soldier. Ezra will be buried on Sunday.

Coalition lawmakers and government ministers were present at the Friday funeral, including Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Orit Strock, Ze’ev Elkin, Limor Son Har Melech and Amit Helvi.

Mellet’s widow, Esther, said they were together for 14 years before it all “ended in a moment.”

“You always leapt at being the first one to go anywhere,” she said in her eulogy. “This time as well, there was no question. It was clear to me that you were there.”

Israeli soldiers surround the Nablus Specialized Hospital where they allegedly arrested a wounded man and his brother from inside the hospital in Nablus, in the West Bank on July 24, 2026. (Jaafar ASHTIYEH/AFP)

“I wasn’t worried when I saw the helicopters [responding to the clash], because you always came back. Just this time you didn’t come back at all,” she lamented.

Mellet’s father, Boaz, called in his eulogy for Israel, in the final days of the current right-wing government’s term, to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, expand settlements in the West Bank in addition to establishing settlements in Gaza and southern Lebanon.

He added, “Benayahu worked, toiled, for the settlement of the land… I call to follow the path of Benayahu and our loved ones.”

Attendees at the funeral repeatedly chanted “revenge!”

‘Revenge’

That sentiment was acted upon before, during and after the funeral took place.

In the nearby village of Far’ata, settlers attacked residents and torched several buildings, according to Palestinian media reports and footage from the scene.

Seven Palestinians were wounded during the raid, mainly by gunfire, the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said. The IDF did not respond to requests for comment about whether its troops had taken part in the raid or if the gunfire came from settlers, who are often armed by Israeli authorities.

Masked settlers were also filmed raiding the northern West Bank village of Sarra, where three residents were wounded and six homes were torched. Settlers also set fire to five vehicles and several acres of farmland amid clashes with Palestinians who tried to confront them, the Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news site reported.

In the Jordan Valley area of Mu’arrajat — a hamlet abandoned by Bedouin last year after repeated settler attacks — a Palestinian driver was stopped by settlers and stabbed in the back, according to Arabic media reports.

In the East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood of a-Tur, Israeli religious extremists were filmed blocking Palestinian cars from passing.

Olive trees belonging to Palestinians from the village of Tell, where the earlier raid had taken place, were also found uprooted later Friday.

In the Nablus area village of Awarta, settlers beat a 30-year-old Palestinian local, who was taken to a hospital for treatment, Wafa said.

IDF admits its stretched thin due to mushrooming outposts

The IDF said Friday it was working to prevent Israeli reprisal attacks, but its actions appeared to focus largely on cracking down on Palestinian villages with residents allegedly involved in the Tell shooting.

Israeli commandos raided the Nablus Specialized Hospital where they apprehended two Palestinians allegedly involved in the Tell clash. The pair had reportedly been receiving treatment for wounds sustained in the gunfight.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visited the site of the shooting in Tell where he vowed that the military will hunt down “all the terrorists involved in the terror attack.”

But during a briefing with reporters, a military official acknowledged that illegal Israeli outposts throughout the West Bank have become one of the IDF’s “biggest challenges.”

The military official said that the more than 80 outposts in the territory are creating challenges for the military’s ability to maintain control and order in the West Bank.

“The issue of the outposts today, especially the violent ones, is one of the most challenging issues there is,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Settler violence has surged in the West Bank in recent months, with near-daily attacks, though arrests and indictments for the violence are rare. Critics have accused the government of condoning the attacks and doing too little to stop them.

Alongside the outposts, there are also 126 settlement farms, which are also illegal under Israeli law, but have been established with near-full support from the government.

The officer said the farming outposts are also creating a “huge challenge” for the army’s efforts to protect them.

As a result, two weeks ago, the IDF deployed two more battalions permanently to the West Bank, bringing the total number there to 24.

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