The body of a missing Israeli teenager was discovered in the Israel-occupied West Bank on Saturday, only hours after a mob of Israeli settlers stormed a nearby village, killing one Palestinian and injuring 25 others.
Enraged settlers were searching for 14-year-old Binyamin Achimair when they tore through the village of al-Mughayir on Friday night, according to Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group,
The settlers set homes and vehicles on fire, fired live ammunition, and left graffiti as they went, the group said, calling the acts “hate crimes.” Israeli forces were present during the rampage, and reportedly fired on residents who threw rocks at soldiers.
The Palestinian man who was killed was identified by family members as 26-year-old Jehad Abu Alia. His father said he was killed by gunfire, but it was unclear whether he had been shot by settlers or soldiers.
The Associated Press reported on Saturday morning that the Israeli military had recovered Achimair’s body in the West Bank, with Israel’s army saying he’d been killed in a “terrorist attack.”
Palestinian health officials said that 460 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed since early October, in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre inside Israel by the militant Gaza-based group Hamas, and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza.
Earlier this week, an Israeli airstrike killed three sons of a Hamas leader on the holiday of Eid, as peace talks between the two sides continue to falter.