Occupied West Bank

Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong has told the country’s media that “there is a risk there will be no Palestine left to recognise”, amid Israel’s devastating war on Gaza and increasing violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Wong, who did not indicate that Australia plans to change its stance and recognise Palestinian statehood, made her comments in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ( ABC) on Tuesday morning, where she responded to questions about a mass protest in Sydney attended by hundreds of thousands of people rallying against Israel’s war on Gaza.

Organisers said that between 200,000 and 300,000 people joined the protest across the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday. Police had initially estimated that about 90,000 people took part.

Wong said the Australian government shared the protesters “desire for peace and a ceasefire”, and that the huge turnout reflected “the broad Australian community’s horror” and the “distress of Australians, on what we are seeing unfolding in Gaza, the catastrophic humanitarian situation, the deaths of women and children, the withholding of aid”.

However, asked if Australia was considering taking any more concrete actions, such as imposing sanctions on Israel, Wong said: “We don’t speculate on sanctions for the obvious reason that they have more effect if they are not flagged.”

She noted that Australia had already imposed sanctions on two far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s government, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, in June this year, as well as “extremist” Israeli settlers.

On Australia’s position regarding Palestinian statehood, Wong said: “In relation to recognition, I’ve said for over a year now, it’s a matter of when, not if.”

Wong’s interview came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is reportedly seeking to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of Sunday’s protest.

Responding to questions about what he plans to discuss with Netanyahu, Albanese said he would again express his support for a two-state solution.

Rawan Arraf, the executive director of the Australian Centre for International Justice, said that the “only business” that Albanese should be discussing with Netanyahu is cancelling the “two-way arms trade between Australia and and Israel, new sanctions measures, and Netanyahu’s one-way trip to the [International Criminal Court] to face war crimes and crimes against humanity charges“.

Albanese “must not give legitimacy to an accused war criminal”, Arraf wrote in a post on X.

While both Albanese and Wong have continued to emphasise the importance of a two-state solution, Australia has yet to follow other countries, including France and Canada, that have recently announced their plans to recognise Palestinian statehood, and join the vast majority of countries which already do so.

Albanese also had a phone call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday, the first publicly recorded call between the pair since November 2023, according to the ABC.

Responding to questions about the Sydney protest rally, Albanese said: “It’s not surprising that so many Australians have been affected in order to want to show their concern at people being deprived of food and water and essential services.”

But the state government in New South Wales, which is led by Albanese’s Labor Party, had sought to prevent the march from crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the week leading up to the protest.

The protest only went ahead after State Supreme Court Justice Belinda Rigg ruled that “the march at this location is motivated by the belief that the horror and urgency of the situation in Gaza demands an urgent and extraordinary response from the people of the world”.

“The evidence indicates there is significant support for the march,” Rigg added.

A number of state and federal Labor ministers also took part in the march, in an indication of a growing divide within Albanese’s party.

Independent journalist Antony Loewenstein told Al Jazeera that Sunday’s march showed that Australians are “frustrated that our government is doing little more than talk at this point”.

“People are so outraged, not just by what Israel is doing in Gaza, but also the Australian government’s complicity,” said Loewenstein, who spoke at the march on Sunday.

Australia “is part of the global supply chain for the F-35 fighter jet, which Israel is using over Gaza every day, and the parts that are amongst those parts in the plane are probably coming from Australia”, he said.

Mike Johnson, the top legislator in the United States Congress, has visited an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, drawing condemnation from Palestinians.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called the trip by the speaker of the US House of Representatives on Monday a “blatant violation of international law”.

Johnson, who is next in line for the US presidency after the president and vice president, is the highest-ranking US official to visit a West Bank Israeli settlement.

His trip comes amid escalating settler violence against Palestinian communities that killed two US citizens in July.

The Israeli military has also been intensifying its deadly raids, home demolitions and displacement campaigns in the West Bank as it carries out its brutal assault and blockade on Gaza.

Johnson’s visit contradicts Arab and US efforts to “end the cycle of violence” as well as Washington’s public stance against settlers’ “aggressions”, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said.

“The ministry affirms that all settlement activity is invalid and illegal and undermines the opportunity to implement the two-state solution and achieve peace,” it added.

According to Israeli media reports, Johnson visited the settlement of Ariel, north of Ramallah, on Monday.

“Judea and Samaria are the front lines of the state of Israel and must remain an integral part of it,” Johnson was quoted as saying by the Jerusalem Post newspaper, using a biblical name for the West Bank.

“Even if the world thinks otherwise, we stand with you.”

The House speaker’s comments appear to be in reference to recent moves by some Western countries – including close allies of the US and Israel – to recognise a Palestinian state.

‘Illegal under international law’

Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law. The International Court of Justice, the top United Nations tribunal, reaffirmed that position last year, saying that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end “as rapidly as possible”.

Asked about Johnson’s visit, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters on Monday: “Our standpoint on the settlements, as you know, is that they are illegal under international law.”

Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967, and annexed the entire holy city in 1980.

Successive Israeli governments have been building Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank on land that would be the home of a Palestinian state if a two-state solution were to materialise.

Hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers now live in the occupied West Bank.

The Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory, bans the occupying power from transferring “parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”.

While the Oslo Accords granted the Palestinian Authority some municipal powers over parts of the West Bank, the entire area remains under full Israeli security control.

Israel also controls the airspace and ports of entry in the territory.

Israeli settlers in the West Bank have full citizenship rights, while Palestinians live under Israel’s military rule, where they can be detained indefinitely without charges.

Leading rights groups have accused Israel of imposing a system of apartheid on Palestinians.

‘It’s a matter of faith for us’

For decades, the US has publicly rejected West Bank settlements and called for a two-state solution despite providing Israel with billions of dollars in military aid.

However, US President Donald Trump has taken US policy further in favour of Israel, refusing to criticise settlement expansion or commit to backing a Palestinian state.

Many Republicans, meanwhile, have long expressed support for Israel from a theological perspective, arguing that it is a Christian religious duty to back the US ally.

“Our prayer is that America will always stand with Israel. We pray for the preservation and the peace of Jerusalem. That’s what scripture tells us to do. It’s a matter of faith for us,” Johnson said on Sunday during a visit to the Western Wall.

In a social media post, Marc Zell, chair of the US Republicans Overseas Israel, cited Johnson as saying on Monday that the mountains of the West Bank are “the rightful property of the Jewish People”.

More than 60 Palestinian women are staging a hunger strike to demand the release of the body of Palestinian activist and English teacher Awdah Hathaleen, who was shot dead last week in the village of Umm al-Kheir, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

Two women have received medical treatment as a result of the collective action, which started on Thursday.

The group is demanding the unconditional release of the body of the 31-year-old community leader who co-directed No Other Land, a documentary film that won an Oscar award this year. Israeli police set several conditions, including holding a quick and quiet burial at night outside the village, with no more than 15 people in attendance.

The protesters are also demanding the release of seven Umm al-Kheir residents arrested by Israeli forces who remain in administrative detention – a quasi-judicial process under which Palestinians are held without charge or trial.

Umm al-Kheir is part of Masafer Yatta, a string of Palestinian hamlets located on the hills south of Hebron, where residents have fought for decades to remain in their homes after Israel declared the area an Israeli military “firing” or training zone.

Iman Hathaleen, Awdah’s cousin, said women aged 13 to 70 were taking part in the hunger strike. “Now, as I’m talking, I am starving and I am breastfeeding,” she told Al Jazeera. “We will continue this until they release the body, so that we can honour him with the right Islamic tradition. We have to grieve him as our religion told us to.”

Awdah was taken by an ambulance to Soroka hospital in Beer Sheva on July 28, where he was pronounced dead after having been shot by an Israeli settler. The police transferred his body to the Abu Kabir National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Jaffa for an autopsy, which was completed on Wednesday. They then refused to return the body unless the family agreed to restrictive conditions on the funeral and burial.

‘A tactic to break their spirit’

Fathi Nimer, a researcher at the Al-Shabaka think tank, said Israel’s policy of withholding the body of a Palestinian was common practice. “This is not an isolated incident; there are hundreds of Palestinians whose bodies are used as bargaining chips so that their families stop any kind of activism or resistance or to break the spirit of resistance,” Nimer told Al Jazeera.

“Awdah was very loved in the village, so this is a tactic to break their spirit,” he added.

Meanwhile, Yinon Levi, the Israeli settler accused of firing the deadly shots, was released after spending a few days on house arrest. A video of the incident filmed by local activists shows Levi opening fire on Awdah, who died from a gunshot wound to his chest.

An Israeli settler just shot Odeh Hadalin in the lungs, a remarkable activist who helped us film No Other Land in Masafer Yatta. Residents identified Yinon Levi, sanctioned by the EU and US, as the shooter. This is him in the video firing like crazy. pic.twitter.com/xH1Uo6L1wN

— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) July 28, 2025

Residents in Umm al-Kheir on Monday documented Levi’s return to the area. Pictures shared on social media groups depicted him overseeing bulldozing work alongside army officers at the nearby Carmel settlement.

Levi is among several Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank who were previously sanctioned under the former administration of United States President Joe Biden for perpetrating violence against Palestinians.

US President Donald Trump reversed those sanctions in an executive order shortly after taking office for a second term in January. The United Kingdom and the European Union, however, maintain sanctions against Levi.

Nimer said sanctions against individuals do little to stop settler violence and the expansion of Israel’s illegal outposts. “It’s not just individuals – there needs to be real international action to sanction Israel and to stop any of this kind of behaviour,” he said.

A ‘continuous trauma’

Iman, Awdah’s cousin, said Levi’s return makes her worried about her family’s safety. “Today, we are afraid that he’s back and can do this again, maybe he will shoot someone else,” she told Al Jazeera. Her father, Suleiman Hathaleen, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2022.

Oneg Ben Dror, a Jaffa-based activist and friend of the Hathaleen family, said the hunger strike was a desperate gesture for a community that has lost all hope of obtaining justice via legal means.

“The women feel that it’s their way to protest, it’s a last resort to bring back the body,” she said. “The community needs the possibility to mourn and… start the recovery from this horrible murder.”

She added that the presence of Levi and other settlers on the ground in Umm al-Kheir was a “continuous trauma and a nightmare for the community and for his wife”, who has been widowed while caring for three young children.

Dozens of left-wing Israeli and international activists on Sunday took part in a march in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to echo the demands voiced by the hunger strikers. Four activists were arrested during the demonstrations.

The United Nations office has reported 757 settler attacks on Palestinians since January, up 13 percent from 2024, as deaths since January near 1,000.

The Israeli army has also intensified raids across the occupied West Bank and the demolition of hundreds of homes. On Monday, two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin. The Israeli municipality also issued a demolition order targeting the home of Palestinian residents in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem.

Palestinian authorities say 198 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank since the beginning of the year, while 538 were killed in 2024. At least 188 bodies are still being withheld by Israeli authorities.

On June 25, Mutawakil al-Mohamad and his family woke up to the sound of Israeli soldiers pounding on their door with their rifles.

It would be the last time they woke up in their family home in occupied East Jerusalem.

The Israeli forces arrived at 7am in military convoys with two heavy bulldozers, and al-Mohamad was terrified the soldiers would raid his house and arrest him or his loved ones.

Instead, the soldiers told the family their home was in a designated “military zone” and ordered them to vacate immediately so they could bulldoze it to the ground.

“When I opened the door, I told the soldiers: ‘My young children are scared.’ I asked them to give me 10 minutes, then we will all be out of the house,” al-Mohamed said. The soldiers obliged, he recalled from Ramallah, the administrative capital of the occupied West Bank, where he now lives.

Demolitions and displacement

Israel is demolishing more Palestinian homes across the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, at a higher rate in 2025 than any previous year since the occupation began in 1967.

Israeli authorities have already destroyed 783 structures – a figure that does not include the large-scale destruction in refugee camps – leading to the forced displacement of 1,119 people, according to the United Nations.

In the Palestinian refugee camps, Israel has destroyed about 600 structures in the Jenin camp and a combined 300 structures in the Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps as part of military raids it launched at the start of this year, according to figures that Al Jazeera obtained from the Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq.

Human rights groups, civilians and analysts said the real aim of Israel’s tactics  – systematic home demolitions and forced displacement – is to make life unbearable for Palestinians so more will consider leaving if they can.

“Israel’s goal in the West Bank is the same as its goal in Gaza. … It wants to target all Palestinians,” said Murad Jadallah, a human rights researcher with Al-Haq.

Jadallah argued that Israel’s war in Gaza, which many experts have called a genocide, has shocked the world and distracted many from its unprecedented destruction in the West Bank.

“Israel is benefiting from the images of destruction it has created in Gaza in order to push its agenda in the West Bank,” he told Al Jazeera.

Little support

Since the start of this year, about 40,000 Palestinians have fled Israeli military operations in West Bank refugee camps.

Many have struggled to find affordable replacement accommodations, renting instead in whatever villages where they find room, staying with relatives in overcrowded homes or languishing in public buildings converted into shelters for displaced people, Jadallah said.

Ahmed Gaeem, 60, recalled Israeli soldiers evicting him, his wife, five children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces and nephews from their building in the Tulkarem refugee camp in March.

The family was also told by Israeli soldiers that Tulkarem had been designated a “military zone” and they would not be allowed to return for some time.

“We left with the clothes on our backs and nothing else. We didn’t have time to pack anything,” Gaeem told Al Jazeera.

A few weeks into Israel’s military campaign, one of Gaeem’s sons managed to return briefly to assess the damage to their home from a distance.

Their home – like countless others – was destroyed. Its windows were shattered, the door hinges blown off and walls caved in.

Gaeem’s family is currently renting three homes in Iktaba village, a few kilometres from Tulkarem city, for a combined rent of about $1,300 – a fortune for a family surviving on meagre savings.

Gaeem noted that while his salary as a Palestinian Authority (PA) civil servant is $500 a month, he hasn’t been paid in months because of the PA’s ongoing economic crisis.

Over the past several years, the PA has cut salaries and struggled to pay its staff as a result of dwindling donor support and Israel’s refusal to hand over tax revenue it collects on the PA’s behalf, an arrangement laid out in the Oslo Accords.

The PA itself was born out of the Oslo peace agreements of 1993 and 1995, which were signed by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The accords ostensibly aimed to bring about a Palestinian state in the years that followed.

Unprecedented crisis

The Oslo Accords split the West Bank into three zones.

The PA was tasked with overseeing security and executive functions in Area A and executive functions in Area B while Israel remained in total control of Area C.

This control allowed Israel to quietly and gradually expand illegal settlements – after encircling and then demolishing Palestinian homes and communities – in Area C, a largely agricultural region that makes up about 60 percent of the West Bank.

In July, the Israeli army issued two orders that gave it an additional legal pretext to demolish homes in Area B – a power previously held only by the PA under the Oslo Accords. The orders enabled Israel to assume control over building and planning laws and laws pertaining to agricultural sites.

Before these measures, most demolitions in Areas A and B were carried out during military operations or as reprisals against Palestinians who resisted the occupation. Israel now has an additional legal basis to destroy Palestinian homes by claiming the owners do not have building permits.

Israel systematically denies building permits to Palestinians as part of a broader policy of confiscating Palestinian homes and land, according to human rights groups.

Among the record number of demolitions carried out across the West Bank this year, the UN documented the destruction of 49 structures in Areas A and B.

Under international law, Israel is prohibited from destroying private property anywhere in occupied Palestinian territory and from establishing settlements or outposts.

“The extension of demolitions in Area A and B and the way Israel is changing the legal status in Area B are unprecedented,” said Tahani Mustafa, an expert on the West Bank with the International Crisis Group think tank.

She added that Israel appears to be trying to confine Palestinians to ever smaller pockets of land in Area A. Israel’s ultimate plan, she fears, is to make life increasingly unbearable for Palestinians in urban centres, likely by imposing more checkpoints and barriers to restrict movement and carrying out more raids

Israel’s intensifying assault on Palestinians across the West Bank already has people like al-Mohamed fearing that his family could be evicted again.

He said most Palestinians predict that Israel will turn its attention to the West Bank’s cities after it finishes its military raids in the nearby camps.

“It’s hard for us to go anywhere else other than the West Bank,” he told Al Jazeera.

“This is our land. It’s where we want to live and where we want to die.”

The family of a United States citizen who was killed in a settler attack in the occupied West Bank is calling on the administration of President Donald Trump to open its own investigation into the incident.

Relatives of Khamis Ayyad, 40, who died in the town of Silwad, north of Ramallah, on Thursday, confirmed on Friday that he was an American citizen and called for justice in the case.

Ayyad — a father of five and a former Chicago resident — was the second US citizen to be killed in the West Bank in July. Earlier that month, Israeli settlers beat 20-year-old Sayfollah Musallet to death in Sinjil, a town that neighbours Silwad.

Standing alongside Ayyad’s relatives, William Asfour, the operations coordinator for the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), described the killing as “murder”.

“We demand a full investigation from the Department of Justice,” Asfour said. “An American citizen was killed. Where’s the accountability?”

According to Mahmoud Issa, the slain 40-year-old’s cousin, settlers torched cars outside Ayyad’s home around dawn on Thursday.

Ayyad woke up to put out the fire, but then the Israeli army showed up at the scene and started firing tear gas in his direction.

The family believes that Ayyad died from inhaling tear gas and smoke from the burning vehicles.

‘How many more?’

Settler attacks against Palestinian communities in the West Bank, which US officials have described as “terrorism”, have been escalating for months, particularly since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.

The Israeli residents of illegal settlements have descended on Palestinian communities, ransacked neighbourhoods and set cars and homes ablaze.

The settlers, protected by the Israeli military, are often armed and fire at will against Palestinians who try to stop them.

The Israeli military has also been intensifying its deadly raids, home demolitions and displacement campaigns in the West Bank.

Just this past month, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, approved a non-binding motion to annex the West Bank.

And on Thursday, two top Israeli ministers, Yariv Levin and Israel Katz, called the present circumstances “a moment of opportunity” to assert “Israeli sovereignty” over the area.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to carry out a brutal assault in Gaza, which rights groups have said amounts to a genocide.

CAIR-Chicago’s Asfour stressed on Friday that Ayyad’s killing is not an isolated incident.

“Another American was killed in the West Bank just weeks ago,” he said, referring to Musallet.

“How many more before the US takes action to protect its citizens abroad? Settlers burn homes, soldiers back them up, and our government sends billions to fund all of this.”

The US Department of State did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment by the time of publication.

No arrests in Musallet’s case

Last month, Musallet’s family also urged a US investigation into his killing.

But Washington has resisted calls to probe Israel’s abuses against American citizens, arguing that Israeli authorities are best equipped to investigate their own military forces and settlers.

Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, called on Israel to “aggressively investigate the murder” of Musallet in July.

“There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act,” he wrote in a social media post.

But more than 21 days after the incident, there has been no arrest in the case. Since 2022, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 10 US citizens. None of the cases have resulted in criminal charges.

Ayyad was killed as Israeli forces continue to detain US teenager Mohammed Ibrahim without trial or access to his family.

Mohammed, 16, has been jailed since February, and his family says it has received reports that he is drastically losing weight and suffering from a skin infection.

On Friday, Illinois State Representative Abdelnasser Rashid called Ayyad’s death part of an “ugly pattern of settler colonial violence” in Palestine.

He called for repealing an Illinois state law that penalises boycotts of Israeli firms.

“We need action. Here in Illinois, we have a law that punishes companies that choose to do the right thing by boycotting Israel,” Rashid told reporters.

“This shameful state law helps shield Israel’s violence and brutality from consequences.”

Khamis Ayyad, 40, died of smoke inhalation after settlers set fire to vehicles in town of Silwad, Health Ministry says.

A Palestinian man has been killed after Israeli settlers set fire to vehicles and homes in a town in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health says.

The ministry said on Thursday that Khamis Ayyad, 40, died due to smoke inhalation after settlers attacked Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, around dawn. Ayyad and others had been trying to extinguish the fires, local residents said.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the settlers also attacked the nearby villages of Khirbet Abu Falah and Rammun, setting fire to more vehicles.

A relative of Ayyad’s, and a resident of Silwad, said they woke up at 2am (23:00 GMT) to see “flames devouring vehicles across the neighbourhood”.

“The townspeople panicked and rushed to extinguish the fires engulfing the cars and buildings,” they said, explaining that Ayyad had been trying to put out a fire burning his brother’s car.

Ayyad’s death comes amid burgeoning Israeli settler and military violence across the West Bank in tandem with Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

Settlers have been attacking Palestinians and their property with impunity, backed by the Israeli army.

Earlier this week, Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian from Masafer Yatta, the community whose resistance to Israeli settler violence was documented in the Oscar-winning film No Other Land, with which he helped, was killed by an Israeli settler.

The suspect, identified as Yinon Levi, was placed under house arrest on Tuesday after a Magistrate Court in Jerusalem declined to keep him in custody.

According to the latest data from the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA), at least 159 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in the West Bank between January 1 and July 21 of this year.

Hundreds of Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians have also been reported so far in 2025, including at least 27 incidents that resulted in casualties, property damage, or both, between July 15 and 21, OCHA said.

Observers have warned that the uptick in Israeli violence aims to forcibly displace Palestinians and pave the way for Israel to formally annex the territory, as tens of thousands have been forced out of their homes in recent months across the West Bank.

Earlier this month, the Israeli parliament – the Knesset – overwhelmingly voted in favour of a symbolic motion calling for Israel to annex the West Bank.

On Thursday, Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement that “there is a moment of opportunity that must not be missed” to exert Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, according to a Times of Israel report.

“Ministers Katz and Levin have been working for many years to implement Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” the statement said, using a term used by Israeli settlers and their supporters to refer to the occupied Palestinian territory.

Back in Silwad, Raafat Hussein Hamed, a resident whose house was torched in Thursday’s attack, said that the settlers “burned whatever they could and then ran away”.

Hamed told the AFP news agency that the attackers “come from an outpost”, referring to an Israeli settlement that, in addition to violating international law, is also illegal under Israeli law.

The Israeli military told AFP that “several suspects … set fire to property and vehicles in the Silwad area”, but forces dispatched to the scene were unable to identify them. It added that Israeli police had launched an investigation.

Washington, DC – A spokesperson for the State Department in the United States has been questioned about the killing of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, allegedly at the hands of an Israeli settler previously sanctioned by the US government.

At a news briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce demurred when asked whether the suspect in Hathaleen’s death, Yinon Levi, would be held accountable.

“Israel has investigations that it’s implementing regarding situations of this sort,” Bruce said. “I don’t know the end result of what that’s going to be, nor will I comment or speculate on what should happen.”

Bruce’s tense exchange with reporters came one day after video circulated showing Levi opening fire on Hathaleen in the village of Umm al-Kheir in the occupied West Bank.

The 31-year-old Palestinian activist later died from a gunshot wound to his chest.

Levi is among several Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank who were previously sanctioned under the former administration of US President Joe Biden for perpetrating violence against Palestinians.

But President Donald Trump reversed those sanctions in an executive order shortly after taking office for a second term in January. The United Kingdom and the European Union, however, maintain sanctions against Levi.

Hathaleen, a resident of Masafer Yatta, had helped create the Academy Award-winning documentary No Other Land, which captured the effects of Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law, and attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

In Tuesday’s news briefing, Bruce appeared to suggest that Hathaleen’s shooting happened in the “war zone” of Gaza, before being corrected.

Still, she maintained that the Trump administration sought to address violence wherever it occurred.

“It’s the same argument. We see this in the West Bank. We know when there’s violence in general. We saw something unfold in New York City as well, with a shooting in New York City yesterday,” she said, in an apparent reference to an unrelated shooting in a Manhattan skyscraper.

The State Department did not respond to a subsequent request from Al Jazeera about whether the Trump administration would revisit its sanctions policy in light of the killing.

On Tuesday, Israeli media reported that Levi had been placed on house arrest after being charged with manslaughter and unlawful firearm use.

Illegal settlements and Trump

Hathaleen was a father of three who coordinated with several influential advocacy and lobbying groups in the US, and his death has renewed scrutiny of Trump’s policies towards illegal Israeli settlements in occupied territories like the West Bank.

During his first term, Trump reversed a longstanding policy recognising such settlements as illegal. Such settlements are in violation of international law and widely seen as a means of displacing Palestinians and seizing their lands.

But Israeli settlements have continued to spread rapidly in recent years and are seen as a major roadblock to future peace agreements with Palestinian leaders.

Upon taking office earlier this year, Trump revoked many Biden-era executive orders, including the sanctions against Israeli settlers. The move reportedly came amid pressure from the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During his term, Biden had been criticised for continuing to funnel aid to Israel amid its war in Gaza, but his administration showed a willingness to take a harder line when it came to settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“The situation in the West Bank — in particular high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction — has reached intolerable levels,” Biden’s executive order, dated February 2024, said.

It added that Israeli actions in the West Bank constitute “a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, and the broader Middle East region”.

Violence on the part of Israeli settlers and military forces has surged since Israel’s war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, with at least 1,000 Palestinians killed in the West Bank.

Rights observers say violent settlers are often protected by the military as they attack Palestinians.

Those killed have included US citizens, most recently Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old resident of Florida, beaten to death while visiting his family’s land in the village of Sinjil.

In a rare statement condemning Musallet’s killing, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a vocal supporter of Israeli settlements, called on the country to “aggressively investigate” what he called a “criminal and terrorist act”.

To date, no one has been arrested or charged in the killing.

In a statement following Monday’s attack, J Street, a left-leaning pro-Israel lobbying group, called on US lawmakers to support legislation that would codify the Biden-era sanctions against settlers like Levi.

The group explained that its members had “deep, personal ties” to Hathaleen, and said they were “heartbroken and horrified” by his killing.

In a post on the social media platform X on Tuesday, Congress member Delia Ramirez called Hathaleen’s killing “a painful reminder that our government and Israel continue to enable and condone violence in the West Bank”.

“We must reinstate the sanctions on West Bank settlers perpetrating violence and hold accountable all those whose extreme and escalating violence continues to rob us of our neighbors — including Trump and Netanyahu,” she wrote.

Knesset lawmakers vote 71-13 in favour of annexation, raising questions about the future of a Palestinian state.

Israel’s parliament has approved a symbolic measure calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank.

Knesset lawmakers voted 71-13 in favour of the motion on Wednesday, a non-binding vote which calls for “applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley” – the Israeli terms for the area.

It said that annexing the West Bank “will strengthen the state of Israel, its security and prevent any questioning of the fundamental right of the Jewish people to peace and security in their homeland”.

The motion, advanced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is declarative and has no direct legal implications, though it could place the issue of annexation on the agenda of future debates in the parliament.

The idea was initially brought forward last year by Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who himself lives in an illegal Israeli settlement and holds a position within Israel’s Ministry of Defence, where he oversees the administration of the West Bank and its settlements.

The West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. Since then, Israeli settlements have expanded, despite being illegal under international law and, in the case of settlement outposts, Israeli law.

Palestinian leaders want all three territories for a future state. Some 3 million Palestinians and more than 500,000 Israeli settlers currently reside in the West Bank.

Annexation of the West Bank could make it impossible to create a viable Palestinian state, which is seen internationally as the most realistic way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Last year, the Israeli parliament approved a similar symbolic motion declaring opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Hussein al-Sheikh, deputy to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said the motion was “a direct assault on the rights of the Palestinian people”, which “undermines the prospects for peace, stability and the two-state solution”.

“These unilateral Israeli actions blatantly violate international law and the ongoing international consensus regarding the status of the Palestinian territories, including the West Bank,” he wrote in a post on X.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement that it strongly rejects any motion for annexation.

The ministry stressed that the “colonial measures” reinforce a system of apartheid in the West Bank and reflect a “blatant disregard” for many United Nations resolutions and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which was issued in July 2024.

The statement, carried by the official Palestinian Wafa news agency, also warned that such actions deliberately undermine the prospects of implementing a two-state solution.

The ministry added that while settlement expansion continues, de facto annexation is already occurring on a daily basis.

Following Israel’s deadly war on Gaza, Israeli forces have intensified attacks on Palestinian towns and villages in the occupied West Bank, displacing thousands of Palestinians and killing hundreds. Settlers, often backed by Israeli soldiers, have also escalated assaults on Palestinians, their land, and property.

Sayfollah Musallet, a Palestinian American, was killed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank on July 11, just days before his 21st birthday. His death is one of nearly 1,000 killings involving settlers this year, and his US citizenship has helped draw rare calls for a US investigation. Could this case shift how Washington responds to settler violence in the occupied West Bank?

Israeli forces have shot and killed a Palestinian child in the occupied West Bank amid more violent raids by soldiers and settlers, and as Israeli authorities position to confiscate more land.

Local Palestinian sources reported on Friday that 13-year-old Amr Ali Qabha was hit with live ammunition in a street in Yabad, located south of Jenin, and was denied medical treatment as soldiers prevented ambulances from reaching him.

Qabha’s father also tried to reach him, but was severely beaten and detained by Israeli soldiers, according to the Wafa news agency, which said the child was pronounced dead at the hospital after an ambulance was finally able to get him there.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed across the occupied West Bank since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023. Of that figure, at least 204 were children.

The United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) said on Friday that at least 14 Palestinian deaths and 355 injuries were recorded in the West Bank last month, while there were at least 129 Israeli settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties or property damage.

According to OCHA figures, between the beginning of 2024 and the end of June 2025, more than 2,200 Israeli settler attacks were reported, resulting in more than 5,200 Palestinian injuries.

In that same period, nearly 36,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced across the West Bank due to Israeli military operations, settler violence or home demolitions carried out by the Israeli government.

Ongoing raids and harassment

The deadly incident on Friday came as Israeli soldiers continued their raids across the occupied territory that were accompanied by arrests, and assisted settlers in their attacks aimed at driving Palestinians from their lands.

In Jenin’s village of Raba, Israeli forces fired tear gas at Palestinians, including children, who were protesting against the confiscation of their land and property.

In the town of Dura, located south of Hebron, five Palestinians were detained after a raid that included the ransacking of several homes.

Six more were arrested in Qalqiliya’s village of Kafr Laqif, with another two taken from the village of Sir in the same district.

A Palestinian man was arrested in Bethlehem after being summoned by Israeli intelligence to the Gush Etzion settlement. Two people were taken during a raid on Nablus, with one shot and wounded before his arrest. Another arrest was reported in the Askar refugee camp.

In the village of Umm Safa near Ramallah, Israeli soldiers destroyed a main water pipeline, which left about 1,000 residents without water.

In the neighbourhood of Beit Hanina in occupied East Jerusalem, families living in a residential building were forced to leave in preparation for the demolition of their homes. The Palestinian families were among those forced to demolish the buildings themselves after an order by Israeli authorities, because the municipality would fine them more if it demolishes the building.

Armed Israeli settlers launched a violent attack earlier on Friday in the village of al-Malih in the northern Jordan Valley, located northeast of the occupied territory. They killed at least 117 sheep belonging to Palestinians, stole more livestock and vandalised tents and other property, according to Wafa.

Israel’s plan to divide future Palestinian state

Israeli authorities are planning to illegally confiscate more Palestinian land as well, despite international criticism.

The United Kingdom on Friday opposed Israel’s announcement of its intention to renew plans for construction in the E1 area in the occupied West Bank, a move that would split the Palestinian territory.

“The UK strongly opposes the announcement by the central planning bureau of Israel’s Civil Administration to reintroduce the E1 settlement plan, frozen since 2021,” said a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson.

The plan would include the construction of more than 3,000 houses to the east of Jerusalem, dividing a future Palestinian state in two, read the statement, and “marking a flagrant breach of international law”.

US Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders, Peter Welch, Jeff Merkley and Chris Van Hollen issued a joint statement on Friday condemning Israel’s longstanding plan to destroy and force out Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta, in the South Hebron Hills.

Amid frequent attacks by settlers and troops in the area, Israeli authorities are advancing with plans to turn the Masafer Yatta area into an “open fire” zone for their military.

Sayfollah Musallet was a brother, a son and an ambitious young man who was just at the beginning of his life.

That is the message his family has repeated since July 11, when the 20-year-old United States citizen was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in the village of Sinjil in the occupied West Bank.

That message, they hope, will prevent the Florida-born Sayfollah from becoming “just another number” in the growing list of Palestinian Americans whose killings never find justice.

That’s why his cousin, Fatmah Muhammad, took a moment amid her grief on Wednesday to remember the things she loved about Sayfollah.

The two united over a passion for food, and Muhammad, a professional baker, remembers how carefully Sayfollah would serve the delicate knafeh pastry she sold through the ice cream shop he ran in Tampa.

“Just in the way he plated my dessert, he made it look so good,” Muhammad, 43, recalled. “I even told him he did a better job than me.”

“That really showed the type of person he was,” she added. “He wanted to do things with excellence.”

‘The love he gave all of us’

Born and raised in Port Charlotte, a coastal community in south central Florida, Sayfollah – nicknamed Saif – maintained a deep connection to his ancestral roots abroad.

He spent a large portion of his teenage years in the occupied West Bank, where his two brothers and sister also lived. There, his parents, who own a home near Sinjil, hoped he could better connect with his culture and language.

But after finishing high school, Sayfollah was eager to return to the US to try his hand at entrepreneurship. Last year, he, his father and his cousins opened the dessert shop in Tampa, Florida, playfully named Ice Screamin.

But the ice cream shop was just the beginning. Sayfollah’s ambition left a deep impression on Muhammad.

“He had his vision to expand the business, to multiply it by many,” she said, her voice at times shaking with grief. “This at 20, when most kids are playing video games.”

“And the crazy thing is, any goal that he set his mind to, he always did it,” she added. “He always exceeded everyone’s expectations, especially with the love he gave all of us.”

Sayfollah’s aunt, 58-year-old Samera Musallet, also remembers his dedication to his family. She described Sayfollah as a loving young man who never let his aunts pay for anything in his presence – and who always insisted on bringing dessert when he came for dinner.

At the same time, Samera said he was still youthful and fun-loving: He liked to watch comedy movies, shop for clothes and make late-night trips to the WaWa convenience store.

One of her fondest memories came when Sayfollah was only 14, and they went together to a baseball game featuring the Kansas City Royals.

“When we got there, he could smell the popcorn and all the hot dogs. He bought everything he could see and said, ‘We’re going to share!’” she told Al Jazeera.

“After he ate all that junk food, we turned around, and he was sleeping. I woke him up when the game was over, and he goes: ‘Who won?’”

‘I really want to get married’

Another one of his aunts, 52-year-old Katie Salameh, remembers that Sayfollah’s mind had turned to marriage in the final months of his young life

As the Florida spring gave way to summer, Sayfollah had announced plans to return to the West Bank to see his mother and siblings. But he confided to Salameh that he had another reason for returning.

“The last time I saw him was we had a family wedding, and that was the weekend of Memorial Day [in May],” Salameh told Al Jazeera.

“I asked him: ‘Are you so excited to see your siblings and your mom?’ He said, ‘Oh my god, I’m so excited.’ Then he goes, ‘I really want to get married. I’m going to look for a bride when I’m there.’”

To keep the ice cream shop running smoothly, Sayfollah had arranged a switch with his father: He would return to the West Bank while his father would travel to Tampa to mind the business.

But that decision would unwittingly put Sayfollah’s father more than 10,000 kilometres away from his son when violent Israeli settlers surrounded him, as witnesses and his family would later recount.

Israeli authorities said the attack in Sinjil began with rock-throwing and “violent clashes … between Palestinians and Israeli civilians”, a claim Sayfollah’s family and witnesses have rejected.

Instead, they said Sayfollah was trying to protect his family’s land when he was encircled by a “mob of settlers” who beat him.

Even when an ambulance was called, Sayfollah’s family said the settlers blocked the paramedics from reaching his broken body. Sayfollah’s younger brother would ultimately help carry his dying brother to emergency responders.

The settlers also fatally shot Mohammed al-Shalabi, a 23-year-old Palestinian man, who witnesses said was left bleeding for hours.

“His phone was on, and he wasn’t responding,” his mother, Joumana al-Shalabi, told reporters. “He was missing for six hours. They found him martyred under the tree. They beat him and shot him with bullets.”

Palestinians cannot legally possess firearms in the occupied West Bank, but Israeli settlers can. The Israeli government itself has encouraged the settlers to bear arms, including through the distribution of rifles to civilians.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has recorded the killings of at least 964 Palestinians at the hands of Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023.

And the violence appears to be on the rise. The OHCHR noted that there was a 13-percent increase in the number of killings during the first six months of 2025, compared with the same period last year.

‘Pain I can’t even describe’

An Al Jazeera analysis also found that Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least nine US citizens since 2022, including veteran reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.

None of those deaths have resulted in criminal charges, with Washington typically relying on Israel to conduct its own investigations.

So far, US President Donald Trump has not directly addressed Sayfollah’s killing. When asked in the Oval Office about the fatal beating, Trump deferred to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“We protect all American citizens anywhere in the world, especially if they’re unjustly murdered or killed,” Rubio replied on Trump’s behalf. “We’re gathering more information.”

Rubio also pointed to a statement issued a day earlier from the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. The ambassador called on Israel to “aggressively investigate” the attack, saying “there must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act”.

It was a particularly jarring sentiment from Huckabee, who has been a vocal supporter of Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank and has even denied the very existence of a Palestinian people.

Nevertheless, no independent, US-led investigation has been announced.

According to Israeli media, three Israeli settlers, including a military reservist, were taken into custody following the deadly attack, but all were subsequently released.

It has only been four days since Sayfollah’s killing, and his family told Al Jazeera the initial shock has only now begun to dissipate.

But in its place has come a flood of grief and anger. Muhammad still struggles to accept that he “died because he was on his own land”. She sees Sayfollah’s death as part of a broader pattern of abuses, whether in the West Bank or in Gaza, where Israel has led a war since 2023.

“I see it on the news all the time with other people in the West Bank. I see it in Gaza – the indiscriminate killing of anybody in their way,” she said.

“But when it happens to you, it’s just so hard to even fathom,” she added. “It’s pain I can’t even describe.”

The Al-Jaleel Society for Care and Community-based Rehabilitation has provided essential services to disabled Palestinians in Jenin refugee camp for decades. But now, after repeated Israeli attacks, the centre has been destroyed, and its staff have discovered that it sits in an Israeli-designated demolition zone.

Al-Jaleel’s staff have received no official notice, but in early June, the Israeli army published an aerial map showing several buildings in the area that were set to be destroyed, including the rehabilitation centre.

Zaid Am-Ali, senior advocacy officer for Palestine operations at Humanity and Inclusion, Al-Jaleel’s partner organisation, told Al Jazeera the reason the organisations were given was that the area was being secured for military and security purposes.

“This is not the first time the centre has been targeted, the Israeli military has destroyed parts of it during previous acts of demolition in the refugee camp and has breached and ransacked the centre and tampered with assistive devices meant for persons with disabilities,” Am-Ali said.

Al Jazeera has reached out to the Israeli military but has not received a response at the time of publication.

Supporting thousands of Palestinians

Al-Jaleel is a “critical lifeline”, Am-Ali said, describing how the demolition of the centre would deprive vulnerable communities in Jenin and the wider northern West Bank of its essential services.

It was established in 1991 as the Local Rehabilitation Committee, which became an independent NGO in 2010 under the name Al-Jaleel.

Since it first opened its doors, Al-Jaleel has provided thousands of Palestinians with a wide range of support and services, especially to those with mobility impairments resulting from injury, illness, or conflict-related trauma.

As well as prosthetics, orthotics and physical and occupational therapies, Al-Jaleel also offers psychological support for those affected by disability and continuing violent assaults perpetrated by the Israeli military, which has been attacking Jenin on a regular basis for years, but has intensified operations since the start of 2025.

“This is the same area that has been subject to an ongoing Israeli military operation for years now, causing a lot of casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure,” Am-Ali said.

Al-Jaleel’s ability to function and provide care was severely compromised in April when an Israeli attack damaged the building.

Although staff have since relocated and started operating from another location due to their displacement from the camp, they have not yet been permitted to re-enter the organisation’s original building to retrieve any equipment that was spared during the April attack.

Staff were told they would be allowed to evacuate their equipment on July 12, but were then not allowed to do so by the Israeli military.

It is unclear when or if staff will be able to collect Al-Jaleel’s belongings before the demolition takes place. With the area now declared a closed military zone, Al-Jaleel’s staff are being denied information about the building’s status.

At the time of writing, the centre has not been demolished, but other buildings in its vicinity have been torn down.

Violence in Jenin

Violence in Jenin has escalated significantly since January 21, when the Israeli military launched “Operation Iron Wall” in the city and the nearby refugee camp.

According to Israeli forces, the operation is an “antiterrorism” offensive, attempting to crush Palestinian resistance efforts in the area.

The Israeli military has for years attempted to root out any form of armed resistance in the occupied West Bank, conducting raids that have escalated in severity since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023. At least 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in that period.

“Operation Iron Wall” – targeting Palestinian fighters in the northern West Bank – started in Jenin, but has since spread to Tulkarem, Nur Shams, and al-Fara refugee camps.

On March 22, just 60 days after the beginning of the offensive, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) reported that 40,000 Palestinian refugees had been displaced from refugee camps in the northern West Bank.

In addition, earlier this year, Israeli authorities announced that they planned to wipe out the Jenin refugee camp completely.

Since then, Israeli bulldozers have been tearing down commercial buildings and homes at an alarming rate.

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported on June 30 that more than 600 homes and 15 roads in Jenin camp had been demolished.

On June 17, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected a petition filed by Adalah, a legal centre for Palestinian minority rights in Israel, on June 12 to halt the demolition of Jenin refugee camp.

The Supreme Court authorised the Israeli military to proceed with the destruction of nearly 90 civilian buildings that housed hundreds of Palestinian families.

“The Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to uphold these operations, including its 7 May 2025 rejection of Adalah’s petition against the mass demolitions in Nur Shams and Tulkarem refugee camps, provides a false legal cover for policies of forced displacement and entrenched impunity,” said Adalah.

Bigger picture

The potential demolition of Al-Jaleel fits into a wider pattern of Israeli attacks on Palestinian healthcare institutions.

The targeting of health facilities, medical personnel and patients has been widespread during Israel’s war on Gaza. These actions are considered war crimes under the 1949 Geneva Convention. Israel has justified the attacks as being part of its fight against Hamas and other armed groups, accusing them, without any overwhelming evidence, of using health facilities as cover for their bases and operations.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 94 percent of all hospitals in Gaza are damaged or destroyed.

Between October 7, 2023, and July 2, 2025, WHO recorded 863 attacks on healthcare in the West Bank. These attacks affected 203 institutions and 589 health transports

In a statement to Al Jazeera, WHO reported that, of the 476 government health service delivery units assessed by WHO and partners in the West Bank in June 2025, only 345 are fully functional, 112 are partially functional, nine are non-functional, and 1 has been destroyed.

That, Am-Ali believes, is being overlooked amid the understandable focus on Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians. And it is allowing Israel to get away with its devastation of Palestinian life in the West Bank, and its destruction of vital centres like Al-Jaleel.

“These developments are not isolated incidents and are in clear violation of international law, including the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force under the UN Charter and the Fourth Geneva Convention,” he said.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has called on Israel to probe the killing of 20-year-old American citizen Sayfollah Musallet, who was beaten to death by settlers in the occupied West Bank, calling the incident a “terrorist act”.

Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, said on Tuesday that he asked Israel to “aggressively investigate” the killing of the Florida-born Musallet, who was visiting family when he was attacked in the Palestinian town of Sinjil.

“There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act,” Huckabee wrote in a social media post. “Saif was just 20 yrs old.”

Huckabee’s strongly worded post marks a rare critical stance towards Israel by the US envoy, a staunch Israel supporter, who has previously said, “There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian.”

But the US ambassador’s statement stops short of backing the Musallet family’s demand for Washington to launch its own probe into the killing.

Critics say Israel rarely holds its settlers or soldiers accountable for abuses against Palestinians. Musallet was the ninth US citizen to be killed by Israel since 2022. None of the previous cases has led to criminal charges.

The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project said Israel should not be trusted to “investigate the extremist settlers it enables at every turn”, renewing calls for an independent US probe.

Israel’s government cannot be trusted to investigate the extremist settlers it enables at every turn.

Saif was a US citizen. Our government must conduct its own independent, thorough, and transparent investigation as it would if an American were killed in any other country. https://t.co/oGnLSl5ic6

— IMEU Policy Project (@imeupolicy) July 15, 2025

Another Palestinian, identified by health officials as Mohammed Shalabi, was shot dead by settlers during the same attack that killed Musallet on Friday.

Israeli settlers have been intensifying their assaults on Palestinian communities in the West Bank since the outbreak of the war on Gaza in 2023.

Often protected by the Israeli military, settlers regularly descend from their illegal settlements onto Palestinian towns, where they ransack homes, cars and farms and attack anyone who may stand in their way.

Several Western countries, including top allies of Israel, have imposed sanctions on far-right Israeli officials and groups over settler violence.

Trump lifted sanctions related to settler attacks, put in place by his predecessor, Joe Biden, after returning to the White House earlier this year.

The US provides Israel with billions of dollars in military aid annually.

Over the past few days, several Congress members have called for accountability for Musallet.

Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, called the killing of Musallet “shocking and appalling”.

“The Israeli government must thoroughly investigate this killing and hold any and all settlers responsible for the brutal death of Mr Musallet accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” he said in a statement.

Congressman Maxwell Frost, who represents a district in Florida, also decried the “cold-blooded murder”.

“As our country’s self-proclaimed peacemaker, Donald Trump has a moral and constitutional obligation to direct the State Department to conduct a thorough investigation and, more importantly, to demand full justice and accountability for those responsible for this heinous act,” Frost said in a statement.

“Our country must ensure the protection and safety of Americans abroad.”

On Friday, Israel said it was “investigating” what happened in Sinjil, claiming that the violence started when Palestinians threw rocks at an Israeli vehicle.

“Shortly thereafter, violent clashes developed in the area between Palestinians and Israeli civilians, which included the destruction of Palestinian property, arson, physical confrontations, and stone-throwing,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

But Musallet’s family has disputed any account of “clashes”, saying that a “mob” of settlers surrounded the young Palestinian American for three hours during the attack and prevented medics from reaching him.

Florida’s Republican politicians have been largely silent about the killing of Musallet. The offices of the state’s two senators, Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Since Musallet was killed on Friday, Scott has shared several social media posts in support of Israel.

On Tuesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), called on Moody, Scott, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Congresswoman Laurel Lee, who represented Musallet, to condemn the killing of the US citizen.

The advocacy group said the officials’ silence is “complicity”, not neutrality.

“When American citizens like Saif are killed overseas, especially by Israeli settlers backed by the Israeli government, looking the other way sends a dangerous message: that some American lives simply don’t matter,” CAIR said in a social media post. “We demand better.”

Top church leaders and diplomats have called on Israeli settlers to be held accountable during a visit to the predominantly Christian town of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, after settlers intensified attacks on the area in recent weeks.

Representatives from more than 20 countries including the United Kingdom, Russia, China, Japan, Jordan, and the European Union, were among the delegates who visited the village in the West Bank on Monday.

Speaking in Taybeh, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III and Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa denounced an incident last week when settlers set fires near the community’s church.

They said that Israeli authorities failed to respond to emergency calls for help from the Palestinian community.

In a separate statement, the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem demanded an investigation into the incident and called for the settlers to be held accountable by the Israeli authorities, “who facilitate and enable their presence around Taybeh”.

The church leaders also said that settlers had brought their cattle to graze on Palestinian lands in the area, set fire to several homes last month, and put up a sign reading “there is no future for you here”.

Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Doha, said church leaders have been calling this a “systemic and targeted attack” against Christians.

“About 50,000 of them live in the occupied West Bank, a small but very proud minority,” Ibrahim said. “They also consider themselves under attack, not just because they’re Christians but because they’re Palestinians.”

The church has been trying for years to “enhance the steadfastness of the Christian community in Palestine”, Ibrahim said.

“We’ve been seeing how Israeli settlers have been pushing them out of their lands, out of their homes.”

Settlers, who are often armed, are backed by Israeli army soldiers and regularly carry out attacks against Palestinians, their lands, and property. Several rights groups have documented repeated instances where Israeli settlers in the West Bank ransack Palestinian neighbourhoods and towns, burning homes and vehicles.

Assaults have grown in scale and intensity since Israel’s brutal war on Gaza began in October 2023. These assaults also include large-scale incursions by Israeli forces into Palestinian towns and cities across the West Bank that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands.

Pizzaballa, the top Catholic cleric in Jerusalem, said he believed the West Bank was becoming a lawless area.

“The only law [in the West Bank] is that of power, of those who have the force, not the law. We must work for the law to return to this part of the country, so anyone can appeal to the law to enforce their rights,” Pizzaballa told reporters.

He and Theophilos prayed together at the Church of St George, whose religious site dates back centuries, adjacent to the area where settlers ignited the fires.

The visit comes as Palestinians report a new surge of settler violence.

On Monday, Israeli settlers and soldiers launched several more attacks across the West Bank, including in Bethlehem, where settlers uprooted hundreds of olive trees in al-Maniya village, southeast of the city, and Israeli authorities demolished a four-storey residential building.

The head of the al-Maniya village council, Zayed Kawazba, told Wafa news agency that a group of settlers stormed al-Qarn in the centre of al-Maniya, set up four tents and uprooted approximately 1,500 olive saplings belonging to families from the al-Motawer and Jabarin clans.

A day earlier, hundreds descended on the village of Al-Mazraa ash-Sharqiya, south of Taybeh, for the funeral of two young men killed during a settler attack on Friday.

The occupied West Bank is home to more than three million Palestinians who live under harsh Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority governing in limited areas separated from each other by a myriad of Israeli checkpoints.

Israel has so far built more than 100 settlements across the West Bank, which are home to about 500,000 settlers who live illegally on private Palestinian land.

Funerals have been held for the two Palestinians, including a US citizen, who were killed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank on Friday. The family of Sayfollah Musallet, who was beaten to death, is calling on the US State Department to investigate and hold the perpetrators to account.

As Israel’s unrelenting war on Gaza continues, deadly attacks by Israeli settlers and forces against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have also soared to near-daily killings.

According to Shireen.ps, a database compiled by Palestinian journalists, 177 Palestinians have been killed there this year alone.

On Friday, Israeli settlers beat to death 20-year-old American Palestinian Sayfollah Musallet, his family stating that the mob surrounded him for three hours during the assault and attacked medics attempting to reach him.

Eight other Palestinians were also slain this past week – including one child – as a result of settler attacks, as well as targeted assassinations and raids conducted by Israeli troops.

In four instances, the bodies of those killed have been detained by Israeli authorities.

Here are the eight other Palestinians killed in the past week:

Wissam Ghassan Ishtiyeh, 37

Shtayyeh was killed on July 6 during an Israeli raid on the village of Salem, east of Nablus, according to Shireen.ps.

Israeli forces stormed the village and surrounded two houses during the operation, local sources reported.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health stated that Israeli authorities had held his body, refusing to release it to the family for burial.

The Israeli military confirmed the killing.

الشهيدان وسام غسان اشتية وقصي ناصر نصار، اللذان ارتقيا برصاص الاحتلال عقب حصار منزل في قرية سالم شرق نابلس، ولا يزال الاحتلال يحتجز جثمان الشهيد اشتية. pic.twitter.com/Pl2NY2rDHK

— القسطل الإخباري (@AlQastalps) July 6, 2025

Translation: The martyrs Wissam Ghassan Ishtiyeh and Qusay Nasser Nassar, who were killed by occupation forces’ gunfire following the siege of a house in the village of Salem, east of Nablus, and the occupation continues to detain the body of the martyr Ishtayeh.

Qusay Nasser Mahmoud Nassar, 23

Nassar was also killed on July 6 in Salem, caught in the crossfire as Israeli forces killed Shtayyeh.

Israeli forces had detained the young man’s body, but later the Palestine Red Crescent Society received it and rushed him to Rafidia Hospital, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Ahmad Nafeth Gabriel al-Awiwi, 19

Al-Awiwi died on July 8 in Hebron, succumbing to his injuries after being shot by Israeli forces during a raid on the city six months ago, according to Shireen.ps.

The young man was hospitalised a week ago for brain surgery related to his injuries; however, his health deteriorated, and his death was announced last week, local sources reported.

Painful farewells and prayers to the Palestinian youth, Ahmad Nafeth Al-Awiwi, who succumbed to his wounds following his injury by Israeli occupation fire nearly six months ago. pic.twitter.com/vkgqFwaqjM

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 9, 2025

Iyad Abdel-Moati Iyad Shalakhti, 12

Shalakhti died of critical wounds on July 9, after being shot by Israeli forces three days earlier in the Askar al-Jadid camp in Nablus, Wafa reported.

The boy was shot with live ammunition by an “Israeli soldier positioned inside a heavily armoured Israeli military vehicle” around 9:30pm on July 6,  according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine.

“My brother, my life, and friend,” his mother stated in an emotional address following his death, according to footage verified by Al Jazeera.

Ahmed Ali al-Amour, 54

Al-Amour was shot at by Israeli forces on July 10 and then run over by an Israeli military vehicle in Rummana, west of Jenin, according to local sources.

Authorities in Israel claimed that he was attempting a suicide attack, Shireen.ps reported.

Israeli soldiers seized al-Amour’s body, Wafa reported. Local sources told the agency they also arrested his sons, claiming that a soldier had been moderately injured in a stabbing attack.

The man’s killing was part of a raid on the town, where Israeli forces raided a large number of homes and destroyed their contents, Wafa said. They also deployed sniper teams and launched a wide-scale arrest campaign in the town.

With al-Amour’s death, the number of those killed in the Jenin governorate since the start of Israeli military raids there on January 21 has risen to 41.

Palestinian Ministry of Health stated that the Israeli occupation forces held the body of Ahmad Ali Al-Amour (55 years old), who was killed this morning under the pretext of carrying out a stabbing attack in the town of Rummana, west of Jenin.#Israel pic.twitter.com/AOapzmCFVk

— Al-Jarmaq News (@Aljarmaqnetnews) July 10, 2025

Mahmoud Youssef Mohamed Abed, 23 and Malik Ismail Abdul Jabbar Salem, 23

The men were shot dead on July 10 in the Gush Etzion settlement, south of Bethlehem. Israeli police said they had carried out a stabbing and shooting attack there.

Abed was from the town of Halhul in the Hebron governorate, while Salem lived in Bazariya, west of Nablus, according to Wafa.

The agency reported that the attack by the young men resulted in the death of one Israeli settler. Their bodies were detained by Israeli authorities.

مصادر محلية: الشهيدان محمود يوسف محمد عابد (٢٣ عاماً) من حلحول ومالك إبراهيم عبد الجبار سالم (٢٣ عاماً) من بلدة بزاريا بنابلس منفذا عملية “غوش عتصيون” شمال الخليل. pic.twitter.com/CzHCP8kpIU

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) July 10, 2025

Translation: Local sources: The martyrs Mahmoud Youssef Mohamed Abed (23 years old) from Halhul and Malik Ismail Abdul Jabbar Salem (23 years old) from the town of Bazariya in Nablus, the perpetrators of the “Gush Etzion” operation north of Hebron.

Muhammad Rizq Hassan al-Shalabi, 23

Al-Shalabi was lost during a settler attack on the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, on July 11, and was later found dead after being shot and beaten by settlers there, according to local sources.

It was the same attack in which American citizen Musallet was killed.

The Palestinian Health Ministry, citing a medical report, stated that al-Shalabi was killed after being shot in the chest, which penetrated his back.

He was also left to bleed for several hours, the ministry said.

Activist Ayed Ghafri told Wafa that dozens of settlers armed with automatic rifles attacked residents who were protesting against the construction of a new settlement outpost in Khirbet al-Tal, accompanied by foreign solidarity activists.

The attack also resulted in the injury of 10 citizens from the villages and towns of Sinjil, al-Mazraa ash-Sharqiya, Abwein, and Jaljalia, north of Ramallah, with wounds and fractures, the agency added.

The municipality of Sinjil condemned the killings of the two men, saying it “will only increase our adherence to our land and our determination to defend it by all legitimate means”.

الشهيد محمد رزق شلبي الذي عثر عليه بعد ساعات من اختفاءه وتظهر على جسده علامات تعذيب وضرب مبرح على أيدي المستوطنين خلال تصديه للهجوم على سنجل شمال رام الله. pic.twitter.com/7D78pbVmq5

— القسطل الإخباري (@AlQastalps) July 11, 2025

Translation: Muhammad Rizq al-Shalabi, who was found hours after his disappearance, showing signs of torture and severe beating at the hands of settlers during his resistance to the attack on Sinjil, north of Ramallah.

Israeli settlers have beaten to death a United States citizen in the occupied West Bank, the victim’s family members and rights groups have said.

Settlers attacked and killed Sayfollah Musallet – who was in his early 20s – in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, on Friday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Musallet, also known as Saif al-Din Musalat, had travelled from his home in Florida to visit family in Palestine, his cousin Fatmah Muhammad said in a social media post.

Another Palestinian, identified by the Health Ministry as Mohammed Shalabi, was fatally shot by settlers during the attack.

Rights advocates have documented repeated instances where Israeli settlers in the West Bank ransack Palestinian neighbourhoods and towns, burning homes and vehicles in attacks sometimes described as pogroms.

The Israeli military often protects the settlers during their rampages and has shot Palestinians who show any resistance.

The United Nations and other prominent human rights organisations consider the Israeli settlements in the West Bank violations of international law, as part of a broader strategy to displace Palestinians.

While some Western countries like France and Australia have imposed sanctions on violent settlers, attacks have increased since the outbreak of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.

When Donald Trump took office earlier this year, his administration revoked sanctions on settlers imposed by his predecessor, Joe Biden.

Israeli forces have killed at least nine US citizens since 2022, including veteran Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.

But none of the incidents have resulted in criminal charges.

The US provides billions of dollars to Israel every year. Advocates have accused successive US administrations of failing to protect American citizens from Israeli violence in the Middle East.

On Friday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on Washington to ensure accountability for the killing of Musallet.

“Every other murder of an American citizen has gone unpunished by the American government, which is why the Israeli government keeps wantonly killing American Palestinians and, of course, other Palestinians,” CAIR deputy director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.

He then pointed out that Trump has repeatedly promised to prioritise American interests, as typified by his campaign slogan “America First”.

“If President Trump will not even put America first when Israel murders American citizens, then this is truly an Israel First administration,” Mitchell said.

The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) also called for action from the US administration, noting that settlers are “lynching Palestinians more frequently – with full support from Israel’s army and government”.

“The US government has a legal and moral obligation to stop Israel’s racist violence against Palestinians. Instead, it’s still backing and funding it,” the group said in a statement.

The US Department of State did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment about the killing of Musallet.

The Palestinian group Hamas condemned the murder of Musallet, describing it as “barbaric”, and called on Palestinians across the West Bank to rise up to “confront the settlers and their terrorist attacks”.

Israel said it was “investigating” what happened in Sinjil, claiming that the violence started when Palestinians threw rocks at an Israeli vehicle.

“Shortly thereafter, violent clashes developed in the area between Palestinians and Israeli civilians, which included the destruction of Palestinian property, arson, physical confrontations, and stone-throwing,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

Israeli investigations often lead to no charges or meaningful accountability for the abuses of Israeli officers and settlers.

As settler and military violence intensifies in the West Bank, Israel has killed at least  57,762 Palestinians in Gaza in a campaign that rights groups have described as a genocide.

Israeli soldiers bound Mohamed Yousef’s hands behind his back as they dragged him to a military camp near the occupied West Bank’s Masafer Yatta, a collection of Palestinian villages in Hebron governorate, in late June.

With him were his mother, his wife and two sisters, arrested on their land for confronting armed Israeli settlers.

Settlers often graze their animals on Palestinian land to assert control, signal unrestricted access and lay the groundwork for establishing illegal outposts, cutting Palestinians off from their farms and livestock.

Yousef knew this, so he went out to defend his farm when he saw the armed settlers.

But as is often the case, it was Mohamed, a Palestinian, who was punished. At the military camp, he was left with his family in the scorching sun for hours.

While Mohamed and his family were released the next day, they fear they will not have the means to defend themselves for much longer.

“The police, the [Israeli] army and settlers often attack us all at once. What are we supposed to do?” Yousef said.

The Israeli military did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the incident.

Useful pretext

Things might be about to get worse for Yousef and his family, who, along with about 1,200 other Palestinians, could soon be expelled from their lands.

On June 17, during the zenith of Israel’s war on Iran, the Israeli government submitted a letter, a copy of which has been seen by Al Jazeera, to the Israeli High Court of Justice that included a request by the army to demolish at least 12 villages in Masafer Yatta and expel the inhabitants.

The Israeli army argued that it has to demolish the villages to convert the area into a military “firing” or training zone, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups.

However, a 2015 study by Kerem Novat, an Israeli civil society organisation, found that such justifications are a ruse to seize Palestinian land. From the time Israel occupied swaths of the West Bank in the 1967 war, it has converted about one-third of the West Bank into a “closed military zone”, according to the study.

And yet, military drills have never been carried out in 80 percent of these zones after Palestinians were dispossessed of their homes.

The study concluded that the military confiscates Palestinian land as a strategy to “reduce the Palestinian population’s ability to use the land and to transfer as much of it as possible to Israeli settlers”.

Yousef fears his village could suffer a similar fate following the state’s petition to the High Court.

“I have no idea what’s going to happen to us,” Mohamed told Al Jazeera. “Even if we are forced to leave, then where are we supposed to go? Where will we live?”

Rigged system

Many fear the Israeli High Court will side with the army and evict all Palestinians from “Firing Zone 918”, a battle that has been ongoing for decades.

Israeli courts have played a central role in rubber-stamping Israel’s policies in the occupied West Bank, described as apartheid by many, by approving the demolition of entire Palestinian communities, according to Amnesty International.

The communities currently at risk were first handed an eviction notice and expelled in 1999, and told that their villages had been declared a military training zone, which the army dubbed “Firing Zone 918”.

The army claimed that the herding communities living in this “zone” were not “permanent residents”, despite the communities saying they lived there long before the state of Israel was formed by ethnically cleansing Palestinians in 1948, an event known as the Nakba.

With little recourse other than navigating an unfriendly Israeli legal system to resist their dispossession, the communities and human rights lawyers representing them initiated a legal battle to stop the evictions in Israeli district courts and the High Court.

In 2000, a judge ordered the army to allow the communities to return to their villages until a final ruling was issued.

Human rights lawyers have since filed countless petitions and appeals to delay and hinder the army’s attempt to expel the villagers.

“The [Israelis]…have been trying to expel us for decades,” said 63-year-old Nidal Younis, the head of the Masafer Yatta Council.

Then, in May 2022, the High Court ordered the expulsion of eight Masafer Yatta villages. The court ruled that the inhabitants were not “permanent residents”, ignoring evidence that the defence provided.

“We brought [the court] artefacts, photo analyses and ancient tools, used by the families for decades, that were representative of permanent residence,” said Netta Amar-Shiff, one of the lawyers representing the villagers.

“But the court dismissed all the evidence we brought as irrelevant.”

Expediting demolitions

Amar-Shiff and her colleagues filed another case in early 2023 to argue that military drills must, at the very least, not result in the demolition of Palestinian villages or the expulsion of inhabitants in the area.

The legal battle, and others, is now being upended by the Israeli army and government’s request to evict and demolish all the villages in the desired military zone, said Amar-Shiff.

In an attempt to fast-track that request, the Civil Planning Bureau, an Israeli military body responsible for building permits, issued a decree on June 18 to reject all pending Palestinian building requests in “Firing Zone 918”. The United Nations and Israeli human rights groups have been notified of the new decree, although it has not been published on any government website.

Across Israel and the occupied West Bank, Palestinians and Israelis need to obtain building permits from Israeli authorities to build and live in any structure.

According to the Israeli human rights group Bimkom, Palestinians in Area C, the largest of three zones in the occupied West Bank that were created out of the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords, are practically always denied permits, while permits for Israeli settlers are almost always approved.

Palestinians in Masafer Yatta still submitted many building requests, hoping the administrative process would delay the demolition of their homes.

However, the Central Planning Bureau’s recent decree, issued to align with the army’s prior announcement, supersedes all these pending requests and paves the way for an outright rejection of all of them, facilitating more ethnic cleansing, according to activists, lawyers and human rights groups.

Once the decree is published, lawyers representing Palestinians from “Firing Zone 918” will have to go to the High Court for a final and definitive ruling, which is expected within a few months.

“There are many judges in the High Court who will either dismiss this case on its face or not order the army to stop demolitions until they rule,” Amar-Shiff told Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, settlers and Israeli troops are escalating attacks against Palestinians living in the area.

Sami Hourani, a researcher from Masafer Yatta for Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organisation, said the Israeli army has confiscated dozens of cars since declaring its intent to ethnically cleanse the villages.

He added that the army is arresting solidarity activists trying to visit the area, as well as helping settlers to attack and expel Palestinians.

“We are in an isolation stage now,” Hourani told Al Jazeera, adding that the villages in Masafer Yatta are under siege and cut off from the outside world.

“We are expecting the army to carry out massive demolitions at any moment.”

Footage from the occupied West Bank city of Hebron shows Israel installing mobile housing units in a section of the city formally under the control of the Palestinian Authority, raising fears of further settlement expansion.