CNN spoke with residents in the West Bank who say they are fearful of a wave of violence from the Israeli military and security forces, as well as revenge attacks by the estimated 700,000 Israeli settlers living in the area.
The latest killings come against the backdrop of a year in which the West Bank has seen a surge in settler attacks, including one that an Israeli military commander called a “pogrom.”
Even before the war with Hamas, the West Bank had been boiling. Following a wave of Palestinian attacks on Israelis last year, Israel launched regular incursions and raids into the West Bank targeting what they said were militant strongholds.
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The resulting violence left a record number of both Palestinians and Israelis dead, numbers not seen in at least a decade.
Days after the deadly violence in Qusra, home to around 7,000 people, residents are still reeling. Photographs commemorating the six people who were killed plaster the walls of homes and buildings. A bleak emptiness fills the air.
Ibrahim Wadi, 62, and his son Ahmad, 24, were on their way to a funeral for four Palestinians shot dead by Israeli settlers in their occupied West Bank community when their car came under attack.
The father and son were driving through the small village of Qusra, just south of Nablus, which has become a focal point of violence over recent days, when they themselves were fired upon by armed settlers on Thursday. Family members told CNN that the men were transferred to a nearby hospital and died of their wounds soon after.
They are among at least 61 people, including children, to be killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7, when Hamas launched its unprecedented, surprise assault on Israel, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health there. More than 1,250 have been injured.
Israel announced a “complete siege” of the enclave in response, carrying out widespread airstrikes across the Gaza Strip that left at least 3,478 people dead and threatening a ground invasion, according to the health ministry in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.
Meanwhile, tensions are mounting in the West Bank, where Palestinians have been killed in confrontations with both Israeli forces and settlers.
