West Bank Violence: At Least 3 Palestinians Wounded by Live Fire in Israeli Settler Attack Near Nablus

NABLUS, Occupied West Bank — At least three Palestinians were hospitalized with serious gunshot wounds following a violent assault by Israeli settlers on a residential home in the town of Till, located southwest of Nablus.

The incident marks another flashpoint in a significant surge of settler-related violence spreading across the occupied West Bank.

According to local municipal sources and eyewitnesses, the attack began late on Friday evening, July 24, 2026 when a group of armed settlers from an adjacent illegal outpost descended upon the outskirts of Till.

The confrontation escalated rapidly as the attackers began hurling stones at a Palestinian family home, smashing windows and causing severe structural damage. When the residents stepped outside to defend their property and confront the group, the attackers reportedly opened fire with live ammunition.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, emergency medical teams braved highly volatile conditions to respond to the scene. They treated three Palestinian men on-site for direct gunshot wounds to their lower extremities before rushing them to Rafidia Surgical Hospital in Nablus, where the victims remain in stable but serious condition.

Local community leaders accused the Israeli military of exacerbating the crisis. Eyewitnesses claimed that Israeli forces arrived at the scene shortly after the gunfire broke out but initially erected a dynamic checkpoint at the entrance of Till, delaying Palestinian ambulances from accessing the wounded for nearly twenty minutes.

"It was pure panic," said an immediate neighbor of the targeted home. "The settlers were shooting at anything that moved, and when the army arrived, they protected the settlers instead of stopping the gunfire or letting the medics through."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not immediately issue a formal statement regarding the delay, though military sources frequently state that entry restrictions are temporary measures intended to secure operational areas.

The Nablus governorate has consistently stood out as one of the most heavily impacted regions for ideologically motivated crimes in the West Bank. Human rights organizations, including the Israeli information center B'Tselem, have frequently sounded the alarm over an "undeclared policy of leniency" by local law enforcement, noting that arrests of Israeli attackers remain exceedingly rare.

According to data from the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, settler violence has intensified significantly over the past year, manifesting in near-daily encounters involving live fire, arson attacks on agricultural property, and the forced displacement of rural Palestinian communities.

Local residents in Till have established a night-watch committee following the attack, bracing for potential retaliatory raids as regional tensions remain at a knife-edge.