Israeli military kills 4 Palestinians after settler killed in West Bank

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Israeli military kills 4 Palestinians after settler killed in West Bank

2026-07-24 19:17 Last Updated At：19:20

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military shot and killed four Palestinians in the village of Tell in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Friday, raising tensions in the occupied territory after an Israeli settler was killed in a confrontation with local residents.

Two other Israelis and four more Palestinians were wounded, health officials said, and the Israeli military announced it was preparing for an “extensive” counterterror operation in the West Bank.

The exact circumstances of the incident remained unclear. But Israeli media reports and interviews with local Palestinian officials suggested a group of settlers entered Tell on Friday morning and were confronted by residents who were fearful of an attack.

According to the Israeli military, one of the residents took one of the settlers' weapons and fired on the group, killing Benayahu Mellet, 32, a security guard in a settlement nearby.

In a video of the incident, confirmed by the Israeli military and circulated online by the military correspondent for Israel's Army Radio, two armed men in civilian clothing, as well as at least one Israeli soldier, are shown pointing their weapons at a group of Palestinians who had gathered in a field.

At one point, the two armed men rush toward several Palestinian residents with their guns drawn. In the footage, the residents try to push them back and appear to disarm one of the men before opening fire.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it killed the man who took the settler's weapon and that he was armed when soldiers shot him. But a separate video, published by Israeli media outlets and confirmed by the military, showed Israeli forces firing on a group of Palestinians in the same field who were already on the ground.

More than a dozen gunshots can be heard in the footage, which is less than a minute long. The military said the suspect was one of the people killed in the field. It did not respond to questions about why soldiers killed the other men — all of whom were related — or how long after the original altercation the killings took place.

Later, army chief Eyal Zamir said he was sending more troops to the occupied West Bank, where soldiers have encircled Tell and the nearby city of Nablus.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Israel would “act forcefully” following the incident.

Jürgen Klopp named new Germany coach with eyes on 2030 World Cup

Germany has hired Jürgen Klopp to coach its national team, giving the ex-Liverpool manager a daunting task to turn around the fortunes of a squad which failed yet again at the World Cup.

Klopp signed a contract to coach Germany through to the 2030 World Cup. Speaking shortly after the announcement Friday, he told a news conference in Frankfurt it was “a big honor” to take the job and signaled it could be his final role as coach.

“Jürgen Klopp has no career after the national team,” he said. “Ideally, this will be the highlight of my career, my life, my working life. I will put everything into it that I possibly can.”

He replaces Julian Nagelsmann, who resigned amid heavy criticism after Germany’s loss to Paraguay meant it failed to reach the last 16 of a men’s World Cup for the third time in a row.

It is Klopp’s first coaching job since he left Liverpool in 2024 citing fatigue. He said he was “recharged” in comments while in talks over the Germany job.

Klopp signaled he plans to make some surprising squad selections and said his mission isn't just to win games, but to bring back a buzz around the team.

Klopp himself admitted that “it's been a while” since he watched national team games outside of major tournaments.

“I want to create something with the national team that means that people go home after the game and think ‘That was really cool.’ That's what I'd like to see happen,” he said.

Klopp said Friday he would be prepared to leave without any severance pay if it doesn’t work out, and threatened to resign if the media doesn’t “leave my family in peace.”

The man known for thrilling “heavy metal football” at Liverpool, Klopp was Germany’s preferred candidate as soon as Nagelsmann quit.

Over weeks of talks, the 59-year-old German — 20 years older than Nagelsmann — stayed in the United States as a World Cup pundit for a German-language broadcaster.

The federation also held talks with the Red Bull group, where Klopp spent the last year and a half as “head of global soccer” advising its worldwide group of soccer clubs.

German federation president Bernd Neuendorf said there wouldn’t be a typical release fee paid to Red Bull for Klopp. Instead, the federation pays one million euros ($1.14 million) to a Red Bull-linked charity and has agreed to hold three national team games in the eastern city of Leipzig, where Red Bull backs the city’s Bundesliga club team.

Klopp faces a tough introduction to his first national team job with four Nations League games in 11 days against the Netherlands, Greece and Serbia in late September and early October. The first major milestone will be the 2028 European Championship.

Germany hasn't won a knockout game at a World Cup since beating Argentina in the 2014 final. Now a player from that team will be working alongside Klopp.

Former defender Per Mertesacker joins Klopp as the federation's new managing director for sport, with a role overseeing the German men's national teams and an emphasis on bringing players through youth national teams to star for the senior team. He will start the role in January and joins after eight years running Arsenal's academy.

Klopp is reunited with two of his assistants from his Liverpool days, Peter Krawietz and Pep Lijnders, weeks after Lijnders left a role as Pep Guardiola's assistant at Man City. Ex-Germany player Sven Bender also takes an assistant role.

In an unusual arrangement, Klopp's longtime agent Marc Kosicke joins the coaching team in a role focusing on strategy and administration, but won't be a federation employee.

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