Palestinian killed in clash with West Bank settlers

A Palestinian was shot dead during a clash with Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the Palestinian health ministry and the Israeli military said.

It was the latest in a spiralling number of deaths in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this year that has triggered mounting international concern.

Mithkal Suleiman Rayyan, 27, died of a bullet wound to the head near the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, south of the northern city of Nablus, the ministry said.

The Israeli military said it was aware that a Palestinian had been declared dead following “heavy clashes between dozens of Palestinians and Israeli civilians” near the village.

“Soldiers were deployed to the scene and responded with riot control measures and shots in the air. The confrontation was dispersed,” it said in a statement.

The regional council representing Jewish settlements in the northern West Bank said: “A group of ramblers from the Havat Yair community, who were out on a walk on Saturday, were attacked by Palestinians… and fired in the air.”

Such clashes frequently break out in West Bank, where some 475,000 settlers, not including those in annexed east Jerusalem, live among more than 2.8 million Palestinians.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel and the West Bank last month, and in talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders urged both sides to prevent further bloodshed.