Hamas calls West Bank shooting a 'summary execution' after four Palestinians, one Israeli killed

Hamas on Friday branded a deadly shooting in the occupied West Bank as a "summary execution" and a "war crime," accusing Israel of revealing its "criminal nature" after four Palestinians and one Israeli settler were killed.

The Islamist group stated that the incident, which occurred in the village of Tell near the Havat Gilad settlement southwest of Nablus, was a "new war crime" added to the "bloody history of the occupation against our people." Hamas called for intensified confrontation with the "occupation and its settlers" in the West Bank to make them "pay the price for their crimes."

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What happened was a summary execution, a new war crime that adds to the bloody history of the occupation against our people. It reveals the criminal nature of the occupation forces, who do not hesitate to attack and murder Palestinians in cold blood.

The Israeli military claimed that several Palestinians stole a "security guard's" weapon after he responded to a report of an attack on hikers. The military stated the Palestinians then fired on Israeli civilians. However, Palestinian authorities offered a contrasting account, asserting that four West Bank residents were killed "at the hands of the occupation forces during an attack by Israeli settlers." They added that settlers attacked and fired on Palestinian homes in Tell before the Israeli military arrived.

According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, Israeli soldiers and settlers "indiscriminately opened fire" on residents, killing four young Palestinians, two brothers and their two cousins, and wounding four others. The Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom reported the Israeli victim was a 30-year-old man. During their emergency response, they evacuated two gunshot victims by helicopter: a man in his 20s in serious condition and another in moderate condition.

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We call on our people in the West Bank to intensify the confrontation with the occupation at all points of contact, to unite their ranks, to activate all forms of resistance, so that the occupation and its settlers pay the price for their crimes and prevent them from desecrating our land and our holy places.