A 29-year-old Palestinian man was shot by a resident on a farm in the Geva Binyamin settlement in the West Bank on Saturday after allegedly threatening the farmer with a stone.
According to the farm's owners, the Palestinian trespassed onto their property and attempted to attack the resident when the farmer approached him to investigate the situation.
The resident reportedly felt threatened and then fired his personal weapon, wounding the Palestinian. The injured man was evacuated for medical treatment before the authorities arrived and will later be transferred to security forces for questioning.
Unconfirmed reports have suggested that the Palestinian attacker was suffering from a mental illness, but the police have reported that the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Israeli government approves 61 more West Bank settlements
This comes as tensions rise in the West Bank, with the government expected to approve funding to establish 61 new settlements in the area.
The plan involves allocating over $350 million over several years and is being promoted by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
According to Axios, many of the settlements included in the proposal are located in “strategically sensitive areas.”
Some are located along Highway 90 in the Jordan Valley, in the South Hebron Hills, and in locations “designed to create territorial continuity between existing settlements."
In another decision, the Higher Planning Council, a body that operates under the Defense Ministry, approved the development of 2,162 new housing units in West Bank settlements, Smotrich announced earlier this month.
Smotrich welcomed this decision, saying that “we are continuing to build the Land of Israel in practice.”