Dozens of Israelis clashed with Israeli troops outside a military base in the occupied West Bank and set fire to a nearby security installation overnight, the Israeli military said on Monday, in the latest violence perpetrated by hard-right Jewish extremists in the territory.
A hard-right protest over the Israeli military’s handling of Israeli settler attacks on a Palestinian town devolved into a riot. Extremists attacked security forces with pepper spray and vandalized military vehicles, the military said.
The confrontation occurred against a backdrop of rising tensions between settlers and the security forces over the Israeli military’s response to clashes between the settlers and Palestinians, and at least 11 Israelis have been detained in multiple incidents.
On Friday, an Israeli teenager was wounded by gunfire during clashes with soldiers, according to settler officials, prompting further outrage among hard-line settlers against the Israeli military’s behavior.
Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians have sharply increased in the West Bank, where roughly three million Palestinians and 500,000 Israelis live.
Last Wednesday, at least three Palestinians were killed during a confrontation in the town of Kafr Malik outside the city of Ramallah, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The Israeli military said its troops came under fire after Israeli rioters set Palestinian property ablaze, prompting clashes between the demonstrators and Palestinians in which both sides hurled stones at one another. Five Israelis were detained, the military said.
According to Palestinian eyewitnesses, Israeli extremists descended on Kafr Malik around 7 p.m., arriving on foot and in vehicles. Many were masked, and several were armed. They hurled Molotov cocktails at buildings and cars, setting fires throughout the village, the witnesses said.
The Israeli military said “several terrorists” had fired from within Kafr Malik, leading its forces to shoot back. The Palestinian witnesses said they did not hear any shooting at Israeli soldiers before the troops opened fire.
Two days after the three Palestinians were killed, dozens of Israeli civilians again clashed with Israeli forces near Kafr Malik, including hurling stones at them, the Israeli military said.
The Israeli teenager was wounded during the incident, according to settler officials. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has raged during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. More than 850 Palestinians and 40 Israelis have been killed the West Bank, according to the United Nations’ office of humanitarian affairs, which tracks casualties in the territory.
Over the past few months, the Israeli military has launched a sweeping campaign against Palestinian militants in the north of the territory, displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes in the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm.
At the same time, Jewish extremists have launched increasingly intense attacks on Palestinian towns in other parts of the West Bank, with mobs burning vehicles and throwing stones.
The Israeli authorities do not typically prosecute such offenders, creating a culture of impunity that facilitates further attacks, according to Palestinians and Israeli human rights groups. Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group that examined more than 1,600 cases of settler violence in the West Bank between 2005 and 2023, found that just 3 percent ended in a conviction.
But Israeli extremist attacks on the Israeli military and police are rare. The violence on Sunday prompted condemnation from the country’s top politicians, including settler leaders, but most did not mention the attacks on Palestinians.
“No functioning country can tolerate violent and anarchistic acts such the burning of a military facility, damage to Israeli military property, and assaults on security personnel by the country’s own citizens,” Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said on Monday.
The United Nations has said that the number of Jewish extremist attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank has risen in the shadow of the war in Gaza. Settler attacks injured more than 220 Palestinians during the first five months of 2025, the highest rate in years, the U.N. said.
Both the Jewish extremist attacks and the lackluster Israeli government response have prompted international condemnation. The European Union and the Britain have imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers who are believed to be involved in the violence. The Biden administration also introduced similar U.S. penalties on some settlers, but President Trump quickly reversed that decision.
Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting from Rehovot, Israel.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
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