{"id":16455,"date":"2026-07-25T05:31:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T00:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16455"},"modified":"2026-07-25T05:31:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T00:31:39","slug":"israeli-military-ups-pressure-in-west-bank-as-settler-violence-rises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16455","title":{"rendered":"Israeli military ups pressure in West Bank as settler violence rises"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/7731784933354\/2026\/i\/17849343367573\/v1.5\/Israeli-military-ups-pressure-in-West-Bank-as-settler-violence-rises.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Relatives of Palestinians killed during clashes with Israeli settlers mourn at Nablus hospital in the West Bank. Photo by Alaa Badarneh\/EPA<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">July 24 (UPI) &#8212;<\/span> The Israeli military is launching a major operation in the occupied West Bank after a clash between settlers and Palestinians left six people dead on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Four Palestinian residents of the village of Tell and two Israeli soldiers were killed in the incident, after a group of settlers entered the village claiming to be on a hike.\n<\/p>\n<p>Israeli officials said violence broke out when a Palestinian man stole a weapon from local security personnel, firing at the Israelis. Palestinian officials said the men were provoked while defending their village from armed trespassers.<\/p>\n<p>The incident sparked a series of settler rampages in more than a dozen villages on Friday, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/settlers-rampage-across-west-bank-amid-burial-of-civil-security-guard-shot-by-palestinian\/\" target=\"_blank\">Times of Israel<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of Israelis torched homes and hurled stones at Palestinians, the Times reported.<\/p>\n<p>Following the Friday killings, Israeli officials said they were preparing a major &#8220;counterterrorism&#8221; operation in the West Bank, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/24\/four-palestinians-killed-as-israeli-settlers-raid-occupied-west-bank-town\" target=\"_blank\">Al-Jazeera<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Israeli finance minister, called for the demolition of Palestinian villages following the Friday killings.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The population must be evacuated for its own protection, and these villages must be cleared of terrorist infrastructure and terrorists in order to restore deterrence and security to the area,&#8221; he told <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2026\/07\/24\/middleeast\/west-bank-settler-palestinian-clashes-military-operation-intl\" target=\"_blank\">CNN<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>Following the funeral for one of the Israeli soldiers killed, settlers torched buildings, homes and farms belonging to Palestinians, the Times reported.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/topic\/Benjamin_Netanyahu\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Benjamin Netanyahu\" class=\"tpstyle\">Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> said he instructed Israel Defense Forces to take a &#8220;series of forceful steps against terror.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/netanyahu\/status\/2080622743788089429\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a>, Netanyahu said his military would &#8220;act forcefully in villages that serve as terror hotspots&#8221; as well as &#8220;accelerate the regularization of farms and the establishment of new ones.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Israeli government is pushing the West Bank towards explosion,&#8221; said Ayman Safadi, Jordan&#8217;s foreign minister, in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AymanHsafadi\/status\/2080676606797058074\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a>. &#8220;Its blatant violations of the historical and legal status quo at Jerusalem&#8217;s Holy Sites are illegal and dangerous provocations. They are pushing the region towards another disastrous conflict that will reverberate beyond the occupied Palestinian territories.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Relatives of Palestinians killed during clashes with Israeli settlers mourn at Nablus hospital in the West Bank. Photo by Alaa Badarneh\/EPA July 24 (UPI) &#8212; The Israeli military is launching a major operation in the occupied West Bank after a clash between settlers and Palestinians left six people dead on Friday. Four Palestinian residents of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/i\/7731784933354\/2026\/1\/17849343367573\/v1.5\/Israeli-military-ups-pressure-in-West-Bank-as-settler-violence-rises.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}