Video shows settler firing into air amid clash with Palestinians and Israeli activists

An armed settler was filmed firing into the air and then pointing his weapon at Palestinians and Israeli activists who had arrived at privately owned Palestinian land in the Beit Sahour area near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.

According to Mia Biran, a “Combatants for Peace” activist who was at the scene and spoke with The Times of Israel, around 100 Palestinian and Israeli activists arrived at the site this morning together with the Palestinian owners of the privately owned land, following a settler takeover of an abandoned building that raised concerns that settlers would take control of the entire area.

Clashes between settlers and Palestinians in the Beit Sahour area near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank on August 14, 2026. (Courtesy)

Biran says that after the group reached the building and began removing Israeli flags that settlers had hung there and replacing them with Palestinian flags, shots were fired.

The site is on the outskirts of Beit Sahour, in Area C, which is under Israeli civilian and security control. There is also a military post in the area.

“Eight to 10 settlers arrived, all of them armed,” says Biran.

After people shouted in Hebrew, “Don’t shoot,” the gunfire stopped, according to Biran. The settler who fired into the air can then be heard shouting, “Get out of here.”

Clashes between settlers and Palestinians in the Beit Sahour area near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank on August 14, 2026. (Courtesy)

In another video, another settler can be heard shouting, “You’re messing with the wrong people.”

Biran adds that soldiers arrived at the scene shortly afterward and said it was a closed military zone, but did not present an order and did not remove the settlers from the area.

The IDF has yet to issue a response.