Palestinians say Israeli forces kill 2 during settler attack

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Monday that Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian men when a group of Israeli settlers attacked a village in the occupied West Bank overnight.

The Israeli military said its troops opened fire after Palestinians threw stones at them.

The Ramallah-based Ministry identified the two men as Odeh Abdul Rahim Odeh Farakhna, 53, and Ahmad Adel Rashid Abu Mkhou, 26.

"They were killed by occupation gunfire in the town of Deir Jarir," it said.

In a separate statement, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said its teams evacuated another person who was wounded during a settler attack on the town late Sunday.

Deir Jarir Mayor Eid Hamad said the settlers had come to take livestock that did not belong to them.

"Settlers, accompanied by the Israeli army and police, arrived at the outskirts of the village and raided the sheep pens of local residents who owned sheep and cattle," he said at the two men's funeral Monday.

"They brought a truck and loaded the sheep," Hamad said, adding that "while the settlers were there, young men from the village arrived and confronted them."

"The army then intervened and began firing on the young men present, resulting in casualties," Hamad said.

Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has surged since the outbreak of Israel's war on Gaza, with rights groups and the United Nations reporting near-daily attacks by Israeli settlers.

Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, alongside about 3 million Palestinians.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.

Israeli military or settlers have killed at least 1,090 Palestinians since the war in Gaza began, including militants and civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Health Ministry data, which the U.N. deems reliable.