A 17-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed and a 70-year-old man was wounded Friday when an armed Israeli settler opened fire during a confrontation near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the latest in a surge of settler violence that the United Nations says has hit record levels this year.

The teenager, identified as Karim Sanad Raja Shalaldeh, was killed in the village of Sa'ir, north of Hebron, according to Al Jazeera. The Israeli military said a man guarding a group of settlers on an "unauthorized hike" through the area opened fire after residents confronted the group and threw rocks.

Homes set ablaze

Witnesses told Middle East Eye that large groups of armed settlers raided the nearby Khirbet Hamroush area the same day, opening fire toward residents and setting at least one Palestinian home on fire. Palestinian officials said the wounded 70-year-old was among those who tried to intervene as the confrontation escalated.

MORE THAN SIX SETTLER ATTACKS ON PALESTINIANS ARE NOW RECORDED EVERY DAY.

The Israeli military has described the incursions into village land as "unauthorized hikes" — treks by settlers into the outskirts of Palestinian towns that residents and rights monitors say function as a deliberate campaign of intimidation. The United Nations has reported that settler attacks on Palestinians reached an all-time high in 2026, averaging more than six a day across the West Bank, a sharp rise even by the standards of a territory that has seen escalating settler-related violence for years.

Friday's shooting came the same day the Israeli military and settlers were involved in a separate fatal incident elsewhere in the West Bank, according to Al Jazeera's reporting, underscoring how frequently such confrontations are now occurring across the territory.

The Israeli military said it was reviewing the circumstances of the shooting near Sa'ir. Palestinian officials condemned the killing and called for accountability, while local residents described a pattern of settlers entering village land under military escort or without intervention from Israeli forces, who Palestinians say rarely act against settler violence even when it turns deadly.

No arrests had been announced in connection with the shooting as of Friday. Rights groups tracking settler violence in the West Bank say prosecutions in such cases remain rare, with the vast majority of complaints filed by Palestinians against settlers closed without indictment.

The incident adds to a volatile summer in the West Bank, where tensions have simmered alongside the broader regional fallout from the war in Gaza. International monitors have repeatedly flagged the West Bank as a second front of the conflict, separate from Gaza but drawing far less global attention despite the mounting Palestinian casualty count from settler and military violence combined.

Palestinian officials say they expect the toll to keep climbing without intervention from Israeli authorities or diplomatic pressure targeting the settlements themselves. Israeli officials have not announced any new restrictions on settler access to the areas surrounding Sa'ir following Friday's shooting.