Israeli settlers attack West Bank village, blocking family's return home

Israel says strike killed Hamas commander Al-Beik in Gaza, who Hamas said helped lead October 7 attack

More than 100 Israeli settlers have attacked a village in ​the occupied West Bank, preventing a Palestinian family from returning home and clashing with troops, ‌witnesses said.

Two houses belonging to the Tubasi family in Jalud village were seized by settlers weeks ago, amid a surge of settler violence and land seizures that have drawn international condemnation.

The family had been staying elsewhere in the village, north of the city ​of Ramallah in the Palestinian territory, until Israel's military agreed to escort them back late on ​Monday night and protect them from the settlers.

Around ten minutes after they reached the ⁠homes, a group of over 100 settlers descended, witnesses said. The settlers set the homes on fire, blocked ​access roads, and hurled rocks toward Israeli officers, three of whom were injured, the Israeli military said in ​a statement.

A house belonging to Palestinians Mahmod Tubasi, 60, and his wife Aedah, 51, damaged in what they say was an Israeli settler attack in Jalud in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 29, 2026. REUTERS

"Due to the violence, the mission to return the family to their homes was not completed," the military said. Troops had the Palestinians go up to the roof when the settlers broke in but then evacuated them as the clashes intensified, ​witnesses said.

The incident highlights the Israeli military's failure to rein in settlers emboldened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ​far-right government, which has overseen an expansion of settlements and settler outposts in the West Bank.

Netanyahu condemns violence

In a statement, Netanyahu said ‌he ⁠strongly condemns the violence and called on law enforcement to prosecute them. Israeli and Palestinian rights groups say settler perpetrators are rarely punished for violence.

Wael Tubasi, who owns one of the two homes, told Reuters on Tuesday that the homes "were damaged beyond description".

"They damaged everything — the doors, the tiles were removed, the stairs were removed. ​They smashed the bathrooms, doors ​and windows. They left ⁠nothing, everything was broken," he said.

Reuters journalists reached the homes on Tuesday afternoon. Inside, the walls were black, stained with tar and residue from tyres the settlers had ​brought in and set ablaze.

Around half a dozen Israeli soldiers were patrolling the ​area. The Tubasi ⁠family was not present.

The military said its forces had arrested two settlers and launched an investigation.

lsewhere in the West Bank on Tuesday, settlers set fire to cars in the village of Al Mughayyir and spraypainted the word "revenge" on ⁠the outside ​of an apartment building.

Moussa Mohammed Hamdan, a village resident, said ​of the settlers: "Wherever they see cars, livestock or olive trees, they destroy them — anything that can hurt us. But God willing, we will ​remain patient."

Israel kills senior Hamas commander

An Israeli airstrike killed the head of Hamas' armed wing in north Gaza on Tuesday, officials on both sides said, with the militant group describing him as a leader of the October 7, 2023, attack that precipitated the war in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel's government said its military had targeted and killed Izz al-Din Al-Beik, who they said was involved in planning attacks and recruiting. Hamas confirmed his death.

Medics said the Israeli strike hit an apartment building in Gaza City's Nasr neighbourhood around dawn. A second person died from wounds after the attack, health officials said.

Later on Tuesday, two separate airstrikes in Jabalia refugee camp, one near a medical clinic and the other at a tent encampment housing displaced families, killed at least three people, medics said.

Palestinians react as they carry the bodies during the funeral of Al-Qassam Brigades Commander Izz al-Din al-Baik and his bodyguard, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted an apartment, according to medics, in Gaza City, September 29, 2026. REUTERS

The Israeli military reported two strikes that targeted militants in Jabalia.

Israel, which says Hamas has been rearming and launching attacks in violation of an October ceasefire, has stepped up strikes on the group in recent weeks.

The Israeli military says it has killed at least 20 Hamas figures this month, including some it identified as senior commanders, people who took part in the October 7, 2023, attacks or those who held Israeli hostages.

Hamas has denied trying to carry out attacks or rebuild its arsenal and accuses Israel of undermining the Gaza peace deal.

Mass funeral

Also on Tuesday, Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza buried the newly recovered remains of 41 people killed in a series of Israeli strikes on homes in the area in a single day three weeks into the war nearly three years ago.

Hundreds of relatives and friends gathered in an open space to pay respect as the remains were placed in white shrouds adorned with Palestinian flags.

"There are mixed feelings between relief, sadness, and pain. But thank God, the fire in my heart has eased a little, because my husband now has a grave that my orphaned children and I can visit," said Areej Farajallah, who lost her husband.

The bodies were the latest of around 800 that have been recovered by excavation teams moving from site to site in the enclave during the ceasefire.

"With minimal equipment, their remains were recovered after hours of work, retrieving what was left of bones, some skulls, and hair with which it is extremely difficult for us to identify them," said Rami Al-Ayedi, of Gaza's Civil Defence Service.

Palestinian authorities estimate more than 8,000 bodies remain buried in wreckage.

The recovered remains of 112 people from the same clan were laid to rest in the largest mass burial so far last month.

Last year's US-brokered ceasefire calls for eventual reconstruction of the territory. But little progress has been made as negotiators have failed to agree terms for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its troops.

Israeli airstrikes have continued. At least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire, according to the territory's health officials, while Israel says four soldiers have been killed.

Palestinian authorities say more than 74,000 people have been killed in Israel's assault on Gaza, launched after Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel in October 2023.