Israeli, 25, wounded by stone during clash with Palestinians near Susya settlement
Times of Israel · LC · trust 61/100
A confrontation erupted Saturday between Israelis and Palestinians at a settlement farm near the settlement of Susya in the southern West Bank, during which a Palestinian snatched an off-duty soldier’s gun, the Israel Defense Forces said.
An Israeli man, 25, was moderately wounded after being hit in the head by a rock during the incident, Magen David Adom said, adding that it took him to a hospital.
The IDF said that during the incident, both sides threw stones at each other, and a Palestinian “terrorist” snatched a gun from one of the Israelis. The Palestinian apparently fired the gun in the air during the incident, and the gunfire caused no injuries.
The IDF said it had dispatched troops to the scene and was searching for the Palestinian who had snatched the gun. The weapon itself was found after the Palestinian apparently dropped it as he fled.
“IDF troops are currently pursuing the terrorist and have set up roadblocks in the area,” the IDF said.
לאחר תחקור ראשוני של האירוע לפני זמן קצר במרחב היישוב סוסיא שבחטיבת יהודה, עלה כי מחבלים תקפו חייל צה״ל שהיה בחופשה וחטפו את נשקו.
לאחר זמן קצר, כוחות צה"ל איתרו והשיבו את הנשק. הכוחות ממשיכים במרדף אחר המחבל pic.twitter.com/0bZwlrcdsG
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 25, 2026
The incident occurred a day after a deadly gunfight near Nablus in which two Israelis and four Palestinians were killed. In Friday’s incident, a group of settlers — some underage and accompanied by armed adults — raided the town of Tell, claiming they were on a hike, though the army later said that the visit had not been coordinated. Palestinians sought to repel the raiding settlers, and a clash broke out, with one of the Palestinians snatching 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.
A platoon commander who arrived with Ezra at the scene managed to shoot dead the attacker, and three other Palestinians were also killed in the gunfight. In addition, two Israelis were wounded, one critically and one seriously, and four Palestinians were wounded, three of whom critically.
Saturday saw around 20 extremist settlers entered the village of Tell again under the guise of a “hike,” which also was not coordinated with the military.
According to the report, no clashes took place as a result of the latest settler incursion into the village.
שוב: קבוצה של כ-20 מתיישבים נכנסה לפני זמן קצר לכפר הפלסטיני תל ליד שכם, ל״סיור״ בתוך שטחי הכפר. הסיור לא מתואם ולא מאושר על ידי כוחות הביטחון – והמתיישבים ללא אבטחה או ליווי של גורם מוסמך. ה״סיור״ בכפר מתבצע יממה בלבד לאחר הסיור אתמול בשעות הבוקר המוקדמות – שהסתבך והוביל… pic.twitter.com/Vl08FAWqff
— דורון קדוש | Doron Kadosh (@Doron_Kadosh) July 25, 2026
Israeli troops carried out raids in several Palestinian towns and villages across the West Bank overnight and into Saturday, arresting dozens of people following Friday’s deadly clash. Walid Zidan, the mayor of Tell, said around 70 people from the village were detained and questioned at a field interrogation center set up in a house in the village.
The IDF confirmed the raid on Tell and said that soldiers detained 11 wanted Palestinians and questioned another 80.
In the early hours of Saturday, the village was allowed to hold funerals under heavy IDF restrictions for the four Palestinian men killed.
Palestinians described searches that included raids of a hospital in the city of Nablus, one of the territory’s most violent areas.
“More than 50 armed soldiers and officers stormed the hospital, terrifying the patients,” Ghassan Barkat, director of Nablus Specialty Hospital, told journalists. He said soldiers on Friday detained, bound and insulted staff and patients, raided hospital departments and arrested a seriously injured man, Ali Hussein Ali Ramadan.
Following the deadly clash, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to take “powerful action” in response, including demolishing the home of the family of one of the Palestinians involved. Netanyahu’s office said he would accelerate the approval of construction of more Israeli settlements in the area.
Settlement activists set up four illegal outposts overnight in the area, including one near Tell at the site of the clash.
One of the outposts was set up near the Palestinian village of Awarta, another was near Asira al-Qibliya and the fourth near Mount Ebal, all in the northern West Bank.
According to Army Radio, some of the four outposts were set up in Area B of the West Bank, which would be illegal under Israeli law, while the others were in Area C. Under the accords, Area B is under Palestinian civilian control and Israeli security control. Area C is under full Israeli control.
All four outposts consisted of small shelters and tents, with some including flocks of livestock, the report said.
Also early Saturday, Israeli settlers opened fire on Palestinian vehicles in the village of Abu Njeim, southeast of Bethlehem, WAFA reported
According to the report, a group of settlers entered the village, spread throughout it and fired at passing vehicles.
WAFA said the settlers also blocked the village’s main road, seized one of the vehicles and vandalized it before leaving the area.
Hundreds of settler extremists rioted in Palestinian towns across the West Bank on Friday afternoon, as a funeral was held for Mellet, the Israeli civil security squad member who was shot dead by a Palestinian.
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.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and massacre in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, triggering the Gaza war.
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