The army said soldiers were dispatched after receiving news of “dozens of masked Israeli suspects vandalising property in the area” of Shavei Shomron, an Israeli settlement near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
The settlers “set Palestinian vehicles on fire” and “attacked a Palestinian who was inside one of the vehicles,” the army said, adding that two Palestinians were injured as a result.
“Soldiers apprehended three suspects”, and security forces were searching the area, the statement added.
Hussein Hammadi, mayor of the Palestinian village of Beit Lid near where the incident took place, told AFP that the settlers attacked the main road passing near his village.
“Three cars were set on fire. A deaf person was seriously injured, and there were injuries caused by tear gas,” Hammadi said.
The whole incident lasted over an hour before Israeli forces dispersed the assailants with tear gas, Hammadi said.
“We demand that the security and law-enforcement authorities bring this violent handful to justice”, said Yossi Dagan, president of the northern West Bank Settlements Council, in a statement.
In November 2025, dozens of Israeli settlers had attacked the same area, vandalising Palestinian property and injuring 10 Palestinians.
Israeli forces arrested four suspects at the time.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the Palestinian territory, not including Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
Some extremist settlers have engaged in violence against Palestinians, who complain that Israeli forces usually do not arrest the perpetrators.
All settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
Violence has surged across the West Bank since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023.
Over one thousand Palestinians, including militants, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the war started, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
During the same period, 44 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank, according to official Israeli figures.