Israeli soldier's death during West Bank settler attack may have been 'friendly fire'

The Israeli military increasingly believes one of its own soldiers was killed by friendly fire during last week's deadly settler attack on a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, casting doubt on the narrative used by Israeli officials to justify a sweeping crackdown on Palestinians.

Army investigators now believe Major Yuval Ezra was likely shot by Israeli forces rather than by Palestinians during the chaos that unfolded after a large group of Israeli settlers stormed the village of Tal, south-west of Nablus, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Sunday.

"There is an increasing assessment in the military's investigations over the past day that Major Yuval Ezra was not killed by enemy fire but by our own forces," Kan military correspondent Roy Sharon said. "The possibility that he was killed by [Israeli] forces is no longer being ruled out."

Friday's violence left Ezra and an Israeli settler dead, while four Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces as settlers rampaged through the village, while several others were wounded.

Israeli officials immediately blamed Palestinian residents for the deaths of both Israelis, despite the circumstances surrounding the soldier's death remaining unclear.

The killings were then used to justify a large-scale military operation across the northern occupied West Bank. Israeli forces arrested dozens of Palestinians, sealed roads and villages, demolished homes, issued fresh land seizure orders and tightened restrictions across the area.

On Monday, Israeli forces carried out fresh raids, arrests and demolitions across multiple West Bank governorates, while local officials told The New Arab that a six-month-old foetus died after soldiers allegedly delayed an ambulance carrying a pregnant Palestinian woman at the Awarta military checkpoint south of Nablus. The woman survived after reaching hospital, but officials said the prolonged closure imposed on the city had severely disrupted access to emergency medical care.

Far-right ministers seized on the incident to demand the destruction of entire Palestinian villages and the forced displacement of their residents, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to expand Israeli settlements and legalise more settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank.

The military has consistently claimed that the Israeli settler was killed by a Palestinian who allegedly seized his weapon. However, it gave almost no explanation for Ezra's death, saying only that the 27-year-old officer had "fallen during operational activity".

The apparent shift in the military's assessment raises fresh questions over the official account of the events that preceded one of the largest Israeli crackdowns in the West Bank in recent months.

In Tal, where Friday's violence erupted, Israeli forces raided the village again on Monday, arresting Hussein Ali Ramadan, the father of two Palestinians killed during the attack, while settlers remained in the area, according to the head of the village council.

Israeli forces also uprooted olive trees near Beit Dajan, demolished homes near Jenin, Ramallah and occupied East Jerusalem, and issued six new military orders to seize almost 500 dunams of land in Tubas and the northern Jordan Valley for a new settlement road.

According to Israeli rights group Yesh Din, settlers carried out at least 30 attacks across the occupied West Bank on Friday and Saturday alone.

Two mosques were set ablaze near Nablus and Tulkarm, while Palestinian homes, vehicles and farmland were attacked in what rights groups described as a wave of settler pogroms.

The violence comes amid a sharp escalation in settler attacks across the occupied West Bank. According to Palestinian figures, at least 87 Palestinians have been killed there this year, including 21 allegedly killed by Israeli settlers, while thousands more have been forcibly displaced.

Since October 2023, at least 1,185 Palestinians, including 250 children, have been killed in the occupied West Bank.