Four Palestinians and two Israelis killed in West Bank shooting

At least four Palestinians and two Israelis have been killed in a shooting in the occupied West Bank - the deadliest single incident there in months.

There are conflicting accounts of the sequence of events in the northern village of Tal. Palestinians told the BBC that residents confronted Jewish settlers who were attacking them. An eyewitness said soldiers then arrived and started shooting.

Israel's military said it had responded to reports that hikers had been attacked. It said 'terrorists stole the weapon' of a security guard and killed him, before being killed by soldiers. The other three killed were members of the same Palestinian family.

Ahmed Zeidan, an eyewitness, told the BBC the latest incident began early in the morning, when locals in Tal rushed to confront about 30 settlers who were attacking Palestinian homes. He said hand-to-hand clashes broke out in the presence of Israeli soldiers.

A local leader of the ruling Palestinian Authority's Fatah party, Essam Saifi, told Reuters news agency that settlers opened fire before Israeli forces arrived and also started shooting.

Two video clips have been widely shared by local media - but not independently verified. One appears to show a confrontation between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers and armed Israelis dressed in civilian clothes as gunshots are fired and a group of Israeli civilians, including children, watch and heckle. Armed Israelis in civilian clothes then push and kick back two Palestinian men. The second video shot from a different angle appears to show that both men tried to grab the guns - one of them successfully. There is a chaotic scene and several gunshots can be heard as he appears to fire it and troops also respond.

Soldiers then 'eliminated the terrorist who executed the terror attack', the IDF added. He was one of four members of the same family killed 'in the exchange of fire', said the head of the army's central command, Maj Gen Avi Bluth.

Netanyahu's office issued a joint statement with Defence Minister Israel Katz saying the home of the Palestinian shooter in Tal would be demolished and that the legalisation of unauthorised settler outposts and the establishment of new ones would be speeded up.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the villages of 'the murderers' must be treated in the same way as Gaza. 'For every Jew murdered, the enemy must suffer the loss of land and homes,' he said.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said it 'condemns in the strongest terms the massacre' in Tal. It said 'the escalation of settler terrorism is a direct consequence of the protection, political backing, and complete impunity granted by the Israeli government and occupation forces.' 'Official Israeli incitement continues to fuel and encourage these crimes, creating an environment in which settler violence flourishes without accountability,' it added.

Since October 2023, 1,114 Palestinians have been killed there, the vast majority by the IDF, the UN says. It says at least 35 of the deaths have involved attacks by settlers. The UN says 41 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war.

Israel has built hundreds of settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them. The settlements are illegal under international law.