The victim, Baha Sami al-Natsheh, was killed in the village of Kobar, north of Ramallah, after young Palestinians attempted to open a gate recently erected by Zionist settlers.
According to Kobar Mayor Mounir Badwan, settlers attacked the Palestinians after they attempted to remove the gate, prompting Israeli occupation forces to arrive and open fire.
“When the young Palestinians tried to open it, the settlers attacked them,” Badwan reported.
“The army arrived and they started shooting live bullets.”
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Natsheh was shot directly by settler gunfire, while the Israeli military said it was investigating the incident.
Following the shooting, Israeli troops reportedly cordoned off the area and prevented ambulances operated by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) from reaching the wounded Palestinian.
Local authorities and the PRCS said the restrictions prevented medical teams from providing potentially life-saving treatment, leaving Natsheh bleeding on the ground.
The Palestinian Authority’s civil liaison office confirmed that Natsheh, a resident of occupied East al-Quds, later succumbed to his wounds.
Israeli authorities also withheld his body, according to Palestinian officials, a practice Palestinians and rights groups have repeatedly criticized as a form of collective and punitive pressure against Palestinian families.
The killing came amid a broader escalation across the occupied West Bank.
On the same day, Zionist settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, attacked the outskirts of Yabrud, east of Ramallah, injuring two Palestinians before local residents confronted the assailants.
The latest killing followed the death of 51-year-old Mashhour Yassin, who was shot by settlers in the town of Yasuf, north of Ramallah, on Thursday.
The Israeli military sought to justify that killing by claiming Palestinians had been “hurling rocks,” a justification Palestinian officials have rejected as part of a broader pattern of lethal force against Palestinians.
According to the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, settler attacks have killed 30 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2026.
The commission described the escalation as a “dangerous escalation,” saying the number of Palestinians killed by settlers this year has already more than doubled the total recorded during all of last year and represents the highest annual toll since 2022.
The violence has been particularly concentrated in the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate, where 15 Palestinians have been killed, followed by Nablus with seven deaths.
The commission also documented 2,051 settler attacks against Palestinians, their land and property in September alone.
The mounting settler terrorism coincides with the ongoing Israeli war of aggression and genocide in the Gaza Strip with Israeli regime exploiting the war to intensify pressure on Palestinians elsewhere in the occupied territories.
Across the West Bank, settlement expansion, home demolitions, restrictions on movement and settler attacks have accompanied the broader escalation, further deepening Palestinian fears of forced displacement and the expansion of Israeli control over occupied territory.