Israeli Strike, West Bank Violence Kill 5

PHOTO CAPTION: Palestinian grandfather Yousef Foqahaa sits outside his family home, whose windows they barred after Israeli settlers threw a Molotov cocktail inside two years ago while the family was home, in Sinjil, near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 26, 2026. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Israeli forces and violence in the occupied West Bank left five Palestinians dead Thursday, according to Palestinian officials and the Israeli military.

Palestinian medics said two people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza. Israel's military said the strike targeted militants.

In the occupied West Bank, three Palestinians were killed in two separate incidents.

An Israeli military official said two Palestinians were fatally shot by an Israeli civilian after they allegedly stabbed and wounded an Israeli during a confrontation near efforts to extinguish a fire. In a separate incident, Israeli forces said they shot and killed another Palestinian following a stabbing attack that wounded an Israeli soldier.

The violence comes more than nine months after a U.S.-backed ceasefire began in Gaza, where Israel continues near-daily strikes that it says target Hamas militants.

According to Palestinian and Israeli tallies, more than 1,160 Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire took effect in October. Palestinian medics say most of the Palestinians killed have been civilians.

The Palestinian Authority's official news agency WAFA said Israeli soldiers and settlers attacked residents from the village of Beit Furik as they attempted to extinguish a nearby fire.

An Israeli military official said "friction" broke out between Israeli settlers and Palestinians during those efforts, leading to the stabbing of an Israeli before two Palestinians were killed by an Israeli civilian.

Violence in the occupied West Bank has intensified alongside expanding Israeli settlement activity, a longstanding source of tension between Israelis and Palestinians.

Roughly 700,000 Israeli settlers live among about 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Most foreign governments consider Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank illegal under international law, a position Israel disputes.

(Source: Reuters)