A 14-year-old boy from an Israeli settlement who went missing in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is dead. His body was found near the settlement of Malachei HaShalom, the army said on Saturday. Nothing was initially announced about the cause of death.
After the news of his death, violent attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinians occurred again in various places in the West Bank, as eyewitnesses and local media reported. There is shooting, cars are set on fire and vehicles are thrown with stones. At least 16 Palestinians were injured, the Red Crescent said. The information provided by both sides could not initially be independently verified.
The German ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, expressed his regret over the boy’s death. His thoughts are with the relatives. At the same time, he warned that extremist settlers should not be allowed to use the tragedy as a pretext for violence against Palestinians. “Restraint on all sides is essential,” Seibert wrote on X. Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Galant also warned against vigilantism.
On Friday, settlers from an illegal outpost entered the village of Al-Mughajir, 20 kilometers northeast of Ramallah, with firearms to destroy Palestinian property, eyewitnesses said. According to the village administration, they set cars and several houses on fire and one Palestinian was killed.
Since the Gaza war began on October 7, violence by settlers against Palestinians and clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians have increased. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 442 Palestinians have since been killed in Israeli military operations or their own attacks.
