Authorities have launched an investigation after a 38-year-old Palestinian was fatally shot on Saturday during an altercation with Israelis in Samaria.
Hamdi Taleb Naasan, reportedly from the village of Mughayir near Ramallah, was killed after residents from the nearby outpost of Adei Ad arrived at the village.
The settlers claimed that they only fired warning shots in the air.
The Israel Defense Forces said that according to "initial details … a conflict erupted between Israeli civilians and Palestinians in the area, in which live rounds were fired by the civilians. One Palestinian died and several others were injured."
Security officials called the incident "strange." It is unclear what provoked the confrontation.
One possibility being looked at is that an Israeli teen who entered the village allegedly tried to vandalize property.
But the teen said that three Arabs who found him meditating tried to take him to the village. He said he was slightly injured but managed to run away and call for help from on-call security squad at Adei Ad, the Jewish community nearby. The squad then went to the village.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing.
"The Israeli Government is continuing its policy of escalation," Abbas said in a statement published by the official Wafa news agency. "This will lead to serious consequences, further tension and the creation of a dangerous and uncontrollable atmosphere."
A spokesperson for Adei Ad said the community "considers the repeated attacks from nearby Arab villages as a major issue and calls upon the security forces to respond forcefully and punish all villages that engage in terrorism."
U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov assigned blame on Israel for the incident. "Today's violence in #AlMughayer is shocking & unacceptable! #Israel must put an end to settler violence & bring those responsible to justice. My thoughts & prayers go out to the family of the #Palestinian man killed & those injured. All must condemn violence, stand up to terror," he tweeted.
