Netanyahu orders crackdown after deadly West Bank clash
A deadly clash near the village of Tell has prompted Benjamin Netanyahu to order expanded military operations and accelerated settlement building, testing the EU's recent sanctions against violent settlers.
Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israel Defense Forces to take "firm measures against terrorism" and reinforce its presence across the occupied West Bank following a deadly clash on Friday. The incident near the village of Tell left four Palestinians dead and four injured, according to the Palestinian health ministry. An Israeli man was also killed, per Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service.
The Israeli prime minister's directives go beyond immediate security operations. Alongside ordering the demolition of the attacker's home and "vigorous operations in villages that serve as centres of terrorism," Netanyahu instructed the military to "accelerate the legalisation of existing farms and the establishment of new ones." This policy shift directly ties military action to the expansion of Israeli settlements.
The exact sequence of events in Tell remains disputed. The Palestinian News Agency WAFA reported that Israeli settlers from Havat Gilad attacked the eastern part of the village, setting fire to a shop, two homes, and agricultural land. The IDF countered that the Israelis were hiking when a Palestinian resident stole a weapon from a security officer and opened fire, a claim complicated by video footage showing armed men approaching locals before a scuffle and gunshots erupted.
For European policymakers, this acceleration in settlement building presents a direct challenge to recent diplomatic efforts. In May, the EU agreed to new sanctions targeting Israeli settlers responsible for violence in the territory. The bloc's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, stated at the time that "extremisms and violence carry consequences".
The broader trajectory of the West Bank complicates the enforcement of those measures. The territory, occupied by Israel since 1967, has seen a surge in violence since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023. According to the UN human rights office, there were roughly 737,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as of October 2024, a presence that remains illegal under international law as bloodshed continues, with 87 Palestinians killed in the territory in 2026.
