RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL

Israeli illegal settlers killed two Palestinians Friday in northern Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and set up a tent on top of a hill in the town of Sa’ir near Hebron in preparation for a new settlement outpost.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Saif al-Din Kamel Abdul Karim Muslat, 23, died after being brutally beaten by illegal settlers in the town of Sinjil.

Hours later, the ministry said Mohammed al-Shalabi, 23, was killed after being shot by illegal settlers in the town.

It said that "the medical report confirmed his death as a result of a live bullet wound to the chest, which penetrated the back, and that he was left to bleed for hours."

In Sa’ir, in northern Hebron, illegal settlers erected a tent on Jabal al-Hadib hill in what locals said is a step toward establishing a new outpost, according to Bassam Al-Qawasmeh, one of the area landowners.

Al-Qawasmeh said settlers previously fenced off hundreds of dunums on the hill and prevented owners from entering, under the protection of the Israeli army.

He added that “everything happening is with the backing and incitement of the Israeli government,” warning that settlers “try to seize a small area first, then expand gradually to build a larger settlement and confiscate thousands of dunums.”

He stressed that “Palestinians will not allow this and will defend their land at any cost.”

The move comes days after illegal settlers established another new outpost on Jabal al-Jumjuma in Halhul, north of Hebron, where mobile rooms were placed and raised an Israeli flag.

According to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, the number of illegal settlers in the West Bank reached around 770,000 by the end of 2024, spread across 180 settlements and 256 outposts, including 138 designated as agricultural or grazing outposts.

The Commission also recorded 2,153 settler attacks in the first half of the year alone, resulting in the killing of four Palestinians.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, at least 998 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.​​​​​​​

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.