AL-MUGHAYYIR, West Bank (AP) — Israel’s army said Saturday that the body of a missing Israeli teenager had been found in the West Bank after he was killed in a “terrorist attack” as violence escalated in the occupied territory. by Israel, where tensions have risen. it simmered for months.
The disappearance of 14-year-old Binyamin Achimair triggered a major attack by Israeli settlers on a Palestinian village on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, one Palestinian was killed and 25 others were injured in the attack on the village of Mughayyir, Palestinian health officials said. Israeli troops on Saturday delayed the ambulance carrying the 26-year-old’s body for several hours, witnesses said.
Dozens of settlers returned to the outskirts of the village on Saturday, burning two houses and several cars. The Palestinian Health Ministry said three people from the village were injured, one of them seriously.
In the nearby village of Douma, Israeli settlers set fire to several houses, according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency. The Palestinian Red Crescent said six people were injured by gunfire, but did not say who fired the shots.
Tensions in the West Bank have been especially high since the outbreak of Israel-Hamas War in neighboring Gaza on October 7. Israel declared war on Hamas after militants killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 250 hostages. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive since then, according to Gaza health officials.
Since the start of the war, Hamas has attempted to unleash other fronts, including in the West Bank, in hopes of exerting more pressure on Israel. Such efforts have largely failed, although more than 460 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since October 7, most in clashes triggered by military attacks but some by vigilante settlers.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Israeli teenager’s murder.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the murder. “We will target the killers and their helpers, just as we do anyone who harms the citizens of the State of Israel,” he said in a statement released by his office.
In 2014, the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank increased tensions and ended up triggering a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, at the time the deadliest round of fighting between the two sides.
