Palestinian villagers in the occupied West Bank said on Monday the area was approaching breaking point following a rise in Israeli settler incursions and violent confrontations, including one that left six people dead last week.
The Israeli military carried out dozens of arrests and blocked roads across the West Bank after Friday's incident in the village of Tal, southwest of Nablus, where four Palestinians and two Israelis were killed.
Early on Monday, most entrances to Tal, neighbouring villages and Nablus were either partially or completely closed, leading to long queues of residents attempting to pass through checkpoints.
Friday's shootings occurred after villagers from Tal confronted a large group of armed settlers whom they said had attempted to enter homes in the village. The Israeli military said there had been a "violent confrontation" between dozens of Palestinians and Israeli civilians, during which both sides opened fire.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government described the incident as terrorism, but Palestinians said the villagers had been defending themselves against the latest in a series of attacks by settlers seeking to drive them from their land.
Ahmed Ramadan, 71, whose son was among the Palestinians killed on Friday, said settlers had repeatedly harassed his family home on the outskirts of Tal overlooking the rolling hills of the West Bank.
"They say we are terrorists. We are not terrorists," Ramadan said. He alleged that the settler killed on Friday, Benayahu Mellet—an army reservist serving as security coordinator for the nearby settlement of Havat Gilad—had previously come to his home and ordered him to leave for Syria or Jordan.
Ramadan said he had no intention of leaving.
"Even if we die, we'll die here on our land. We're not prepared to leave this country."
Sitting with his surviving sons, he said the village was prepared if settlers returned in force.
"If they come, we'll meet them head-on, even if they kill us," he told Reuters.
Israeli authorities initially described Friday's incident as an attack by Palestinians on hikers near the village, located in Area A of the West Bank, a zone under Palestinian Authority control that Israelis are generally prohibited from entering.
Video widely shared on social media appeared to show settlers carrying rifles and pushing residents as they approached the village. Reuters was unable to independently verify the footage.
Residents of Tal said the settlers attacked first before one of the villagers wrestled a gun from one of them.
The incident followed a pattern seen repeatedly across the West Bank, with large groups of settlers appearing near Palestinian communities, threatening and harassing residents, often while security forces stood by.
Such incidents have become more frequent in recent months as ministers in Netanyahu's government openly advocate annexing the West Bank, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.
On Monday, Reuters reporters saw freshly cut tree trunks in fields on the edge of the village. Residents said settlers returned after Friday's violence and cut down olive and fig trees.
According to United Nations figures, 18 Palestinians have been killed in incidents linked to settler attacks so far this year, compared with 17 during the whole of 2025. The Palestinian Authority says at least 20 Palestinians have been killed by settlers since the beginning of the year.
Residents said the military has carried out daily raids on Tal since Friday, detaining between 60 and 80 people. Around 30 remain in custody, according to Munther Shtayya, deputy head of the village council.
In the early hours of Monday, residents said soldiers forced a man out of his home on the edge of the village. Reuters saw two soldiers standing on the roof of the house.
"All of the military is here in the streets," said Kamal Shtayya, 55, a resident of Tal.
As Netanyahu's government moves towards elections in October, it has accelerated approvals for new settlement construction, saying the move is intended to strengthen Israeli control over the West Bank.
The United Nations, Palestinians and most countries consider the settlements illegal under international law. Israel disputes this, arguing that the West Bank is disputed territory and citing historical and biblical ties to the land.
"I'm patient. We'll be patient and patient and patient, but at the end of the day, patience runs out. It just disappears," said 72-year-old farmer Ahmed Shtayya.
"Any human being defends himself," he told Reuters.
Like many Palestinian farmers, Shtayya, who grows tomatoes, figs and aubergines, said settlers had moved ever closer to his land, at times telling him it belonged to Israel.
Just a few hundred metres away stands a burned-out home that, according to the deputy head of the village council, was attacked by settlers a week ago.
"I've come to this point. If they want to continue like this, there must be an explosion. What else?" Shtayya said.