The Israel Defense Forces is investigating reports that a Palestinian with U.S. citizenship was killed during a riot that broke out on Friday after stones were thrown at Israeli civilians in Samaria.
“Earlier today, terrorists threw stones at Israeli civilians near Sinjil, lightly injuring two Israeli civilians,” the army said.
“A violent confrontation developed in the area between Palestinians and Israeli civilians, which included the vandalism of Palestinian property, arson, physical altercations and stone-throwing,” it added.
The military statement noted that Arab reports of a Palestinian being killed and several others wounded in the confrontation “are known and are being investigated by the Shin Bet and the Israel Police.”
There were several reports on an incident on Friday near the village of Ateret and the town of Sinjil.
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) July 12, 2025
This is what they won’t show you on the news – how the incident started: Palestinians attacking Jews. pic.twitter.com/cIhWAGDcFw
Three Israelis were arrested in connection with the clashes, including a reservist who was detained on Saturday and handed over to the IDF Military Police for questioning, Kan News reported.
The Binyamin Regional Council, which oversees Jewish communities in southern Samaria, issued a rare statement on the incident during Shabbat, saying it had done so with rabbinic approval.
According to the council, the incident began when “dozens of Arab terrorists and rioters attacked a small group of Jewish shepherds with stones and slingshots near the community of Ateret in Binyamin.”
The statement said the attack was premeditated and cited the Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news agency as reporting that the Palestinians had ambushed the Israelis in an attempt to “remove an outpost.”
When Israeli security forces arrived to disperse the confrontation, “a gas cylinder that Arab rioters had placed inside a bonfire exploded near them,” the regional council stated, adding that no casualties were reported.
Only hours after the riot ended, the P.A. announced that two Arabs had been found dead in the area, though Ramallah has refused to hand over the bodies to Israeli authorities for autopsy, according to the council.
The P.A. identified the two slain men as U.S. citizen Sayafollah Musallet, 20, who was said to have been beaten to death, and Hussein al-Shalabi, 23, who was reportedly shot in the chest during the disturbance near Sinjil.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters on Friday that it was aware of the reports but had no further comment “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the reported victim.
Musallet, from Tampa, Fla., was visiting for two weeks and was killed “protecting his family’s land,” relatives told CBS News on Saturday.
The Israel Defense Forces recorded 663 instances of violence by Jews against Palestinians in Judea and Samaria last year, a 34% decrease compared to 2023.
Meanwhile, Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times last year, according to figures published by Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria).
Twenty-seven Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2024, and more than 300 others were wounded, the group said in its annual report.
