Palestinian reportedly killed, seven others wounded in settler attack near Nablus

A Palestinian was killed and seven others were wounded by gunfire on Saturday during a settler attack near Aqraba, a village in the northern West Bank near Nablus, Palestinian media reported.

The man was named by the Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news agency as Mueen Subhi Asfar, 24.

Footage circulated on social media showed Israeli soldiers arriving at the scene as shooting can be heard in the background, the source of which was unclear.

The IDF did not immediately comment on the incident.

Aqraba’s mayor, Salah al-Din Jabbar, told the Haaretz daily that some 20 settlers came toward Aqraba from an illegal outpost recently built on the village’s land and attacked locals.

The incident was the fifth such attack and marked the third Palestinian killed during clashes with settlers in the past two weeks, among them an activist featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land.”

الشهيد معين صبحي أبو كبر ديرية، الذي ارتقى خلال التصدي لهجوم المستوطنين على سهل محفوريا قرب بلدة عقربا جنوب شرق نابلس. pic.twitter.com/hclKDHB4mv

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 2, 2025

Violence in the West Bank has spiked since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Settler attacks on Palestinians throughout the West Bank have been taking place on a near-daily basis, largely with impunity, in what has sparked mounting sanctions from Western governments.

فيديو يوثق لحظة إطلاق النار على المواطنين خلال هجوم المستوطنين على سهل محفوريا، قرب بلدة عقربا جنوب نابلس، واستشهاد فلسطينيين اثنين، وإصابة 4 آخرين pic.twitter.com/eRBIBp86cc

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) August 2, 2025

The head of the Israel Police’s West Bank division is currently under investigation for ignoring settler violence to curry favor in the eyes of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. He was allowed to return to his post, despite the ongoing investigation.