Palestinians carrying in the corridors of Ramallah hospital the body of one of the two young Palestinians killed in al-Moughayyir, east of Ramallah, by gunfire from Israeli soldiers, on September 2, 2026, in the occupied West Bank, following an attack by Israeli settlers followed by an Israeli army raid. Photo Zain Jaafar / AFP
Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian teenagers in the occupied West Bank overnight Wednesday to Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported.
The incident began when a group of Israeli settlers stole sheep, according to a resident of the village of al-Mughayir, northeast of Ramallah. Subsequently, Omar Mohammed Naji al-Nassan, 19, and Khalil Rassem Khalil Shahada, 16, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the same area, the Health Ministry said.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, they were seriously wounded by live fire — the first in the neck and the second in the back — before being transferred to two hospitals in Ramallah, where doctors pronounced them dead. An AFP journalist present at the Ramallah Medical Complex saw mourners gathered around one of the bodies.
According to Amin Abou Alia, head of the al-Mughayir village council, "Israeli settlers... tried to steal sheep" and following resistance from local residents, "the Israeli army imposed a siege on the village before conducting a raid there." Abou Alia also told AFP that snipers had been positioned in the area, "opening fire with live rounds on residents who tried to oppose the settlers."
Recurring settler and soldier attacks against Palestinians
Israeli settler attacks are frequent in the area around al-Mughayir, especially along the only road leading into the village, where attacks by settlers have repeatedly injured Palestinians, damaged vehicles and disrupted traffic. Two weeks earlier, on Aug. 20, 11 Palestinians were injured during an Israeli attack on the village, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israel released a statement claiming that the sheep found near the village belonged to Israelis, adding that it had "secured the entrance to the village" to allow the return of the animals to their owners. According to the army's statement to AFP, a "riot" then broke out on site, during which "concrete blocks and stones" were thrown at Israeli soldiers. The soldiers opened fire to "eliminate the threat," the statement added.
However, the incident falls in line with a pattern of increased Israeli violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The number of attacks has surged dramatically since the start of Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, resulting in near-daily settler attacks and regular raids on Palestinian villages.
According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,105 Palestinians, mostly civilians, since Oct. 7, 2023. This brings to at least 81 the number of Palestinians, including 20 children, killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2026, along with about 1,870 wounded.
Of these, 23 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,040 wounded in attacks carried out by settlers. The frequency of injuries directly caused by Israeli settlers has increased sharply, rising from an average of one Palestinian wounded every three days in 2020 to two per day in 2025, and more than three per day since early 2026.
Israel has illegally occupied the West Bank since 1967. Excluding East Jerusalem, which is occupied and annexed by Israel, about three million Palestinians live in the West Bank alongside more than 500,000 Israeli settlers living in settlements that are illegal under international law.
According to Israeli figures, at least 48 Israelis — civilians and members of security forces — have died in attacks over the same period.
