Israeli forces kill 14-year-old in Burqa as settlers attack harvesters and rabbis near Qusra

Israeli forces shot dead a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in the village of Burqa, northwest of Nablus, on Monday evening, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. The Israeli military said its soldiers fired at people who intended to throw stones at Israeli vehicles. On Tuesday, south of Nablus, Israeli settlers attacked olive harvesters, Israeli rabbis and journalists near the village of Qusra, injuring several people, according to the activists, the village mayor and Palestinian medics.

The two incidents came as United Nations monitors reported the highest monthly number of settler attacks since they began counting in 2006. They also came as Israel's new Knesset was sworn in, with the parties forming the next government divided over almost every aspect of West Bank policy.

The killing in Burqa#

The ministry identified the boy as Moataz Iyad Daghlas, 14. It said it was informed of his death by the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs, and that Israeli forces were withholding his body, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

According to Wafa, Israeli forces entered the town earlier in the evening and opened live fire. A 17-year-old was shot in the abdomen and pelvis and a 19-year-old in the hand. Wafa said the forces prevented ambulance crews from reaching Daghlas before his death was announced, and detained his father, Iyad Daghlas, and a young man named Rayan Daghlas.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its teams treated two people with gunshot wounds, but that Israeli forces blocked their access to a third wounded person and detained three volunteer paramedics, the BBC reported. Wafa said the paramedics were held briefly.

The Israeli military confirmed the shooting. It said soldiers identified "several terrorists who intended to hurl stones" in an area where stones had previously been thrown at Israeli vehicles, and fired toward them "to remove the threat," according to the BBC. "The forces responded with gunfire to neutralise the threat and several hits were confirmed," the military said in a statement quoted by Al Jazeera. The statement did not name the boy or say whether he had thrown stones.

The military has not published an account of why the ambulance was held back or why the medics were detained. The account of events in Burqa could not be independently verified.

The legal dispute over lethal force#

The case falls into a long-running dispute over when Israeli soldiers may open fire. The BBC noted that the rules of engagement for Israeli forces were reportedly broadened after the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, giving soldiers more discretion to use lethal force against a perceived threat.

In June, the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory said it had verified the killing of 241 Palestinian children by Israeli security forces and settlers in the West Bank since then, the BBC reported. Most were teenage boys. In many cases, the office found, Israeli authorities cited stone-throwing as the justification. Its assessment was that none of the children killed during confrontations with Israeli forces had posed an imminent threat to life, which it said is the only legal justification for lethal force in the West Bank under international law.

According to the UN, at least 98 Palestinians, including 22 children, have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the start of 2026, the BBC said. Al Jazeera, citing the UN, put the total since Oct. 7, 2023 at 1,143, including 250 children. Israelis have also been killed in the West Bank. On Oct. 23, two Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers in Hebron, according to the UN's humanitarian office.

The attack near Qusra#

On Tuesday morning, a group from the Israeli organization Rabbis for Human Rights was helping Palestinian farmers pick olives near Qusra, south of Nablus. About 90 minutes into the harvest, the activists noticed settlers gathering on a nearby hill and called the police, the group said, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The settlers, who the activists said carried clubs, came down the hill and began their attack once soldiers had arrived. Footage released by the group shows settlers throwing rocks at activists and at journalists recording the scene, the Post reported. The army fired tear gas at the attackers, but the activists said the settlers soon attacked again from another direction, forcing the group to leave.

Six people were hurt, according to the organization: four of its activists, a journalist and a Palestinian resident. One person was taken to the hospital with a head injury. Israel Police said they "received a report of a confrontation" and had opened an investigation. Police said two people with light injuries had been taken to the hospital, but did not say who they were.

Qusra's mayor, Abdul Azim Wadi, told Wafa that settlers attacked olive harvesters and foreign activists on land between Qusra and Jalud, in an area classified as Area B under the Oslo Accords, where the Palestinian Authority runs civil affairs. Wafa reported that Alaa Badarneh, a photographer for the European Pressphoto Agency, was bruised after being hit by stones, and that a foreign activist was also hurt. The Red Crescent treated Badarneh in the field for a hand injury, Anadolu reported. Wadi told Anadolu that repeated attacks had made this year's harvest especially hard and that several vehicles were damaged.

It was not clear whether the two accounts describe one attack or two separate incidents in the same area on the same morning. No arrests had been reported by Tuesday afternoon.

A record month for settler attacks#

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has tracked settler attacks that cause casualties or property damage since 2006. October 2026 set a record, with 457 such attacks recorded by Oct. 31, according to its Nov. 5 situation report.

In the latest week covered, Oct. 27 to Nov. 2, OCHA recorded 64 attacks with casualties or damage across 48 communities, against a weekly average of 53 so far in 2026. Of those, 41 were linked to the olive harvest. Fifty-eight Palestinians were injured that week, 43 of them by settlers and 15 by Israeli forces.

0

20

40

60

Israeli settlers43

Israeli forces15

Israeli settlersIsraeli forces

Source: UN OCHA situation report, Nov. 5, 2026

Show the numbers

Caused by	Palestinians injured
Israeli settlers	43
Israeli forces	15

The chart shows that in the harvest season most injuries are coming from settlers rather than soldiers. OCHA also reported that in the area between Al Masu'diya and Burqa, settlers reportedly assaulted a farmer harvesting in Area A and seized six bags of olives. Even where Israel had approved harvest access, OCHA said, farmers kept facing restrictions and attacks.

Earlier 567 Politics reports covered the record olive-harvest violence and Israeli arrests of activists and the Palestinian Authority's count of October incidents.

Elsewhere in the West Bank last week#

OCHA's latest report also describes a wider pattern of pressure on Palestinian communities. Between Oct. 23 and Nov. 2, an Israeli military operation in Hebron city followed a shooting attack by two Palestinians that killed two Israeli soldiers and injured four. The operation reportedly displaced about 3,000 Palestinians from two neighborhoods, Jildah and 'Ein Deir Bahah, though OCHA said the figures were still being verified. On Oct. 30, Israeli forces demolished, with explosives, the apartments of the families of the two attackers, who were killed in an exchange of fire. Three families of 15 people, including nine children, were displaced.

In the same week, Israeli authorities demolished or forced Palestinians to demolish 31 Palestinian-owned structures, displacing 71 people, OCHA said. Twenty-four were demolished for lack of Israeli building permits and seven on punitive grounds. In Khirbet Suruj near Jenin, seven families of 33 people left after Israeli authorities reportedly declared the area state land.

Harvest access also remained tight. In Deir Ammar near Ramallah, OCHA said, access was limited to three days and to 15 farmers over 40, and an 82-year-old farmer was assaulted by settlers during the permitted period. In Kafr Malik, settlers accompanied by Israeli forces reportedly attacked farmers and injured a person providing protective presence. In Jamma'in and Qabalan, near Nablus, settlers assaulted farmers harvesting in Area B, including two men over 70. In Beit Iksa, near Jerusalem, settlers and Israeli forces reportedly forced farmers out of their groves despite prior coordination, and farmers said settlers had already picked the olives from about 30 trees. Eight of the week's 41 harvest-related attacks took place in Areas A and B, where the Palestinian Authority has civil control. On Nov. 1, settlers also assaulted two Israeli solidarity activists near Aqraba, south of Nablus, OCHA said. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project has said 2026 is on track to be the most violent year for settler-related violence since it began monitoring the territory a decade ago, Al Jazeera reported.

The political backdrop#

Settlement policy is one of the sharpest divides in Israel's coalition talks. The outgoing government included Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who favor settlement expansion. In recent weeks, Israeli authorities issued a tender for 732 units in Gvaot and seizure orders for new roads.

At the Knesset swearing-in on Tuesday, President Isaac Herzog said there was "no place for violence ... not in the hilltops of Judea and Samaria," using the biblical name for the West Bank, according to Haaretz's live coverage. He said racism and violence "must be eradicated with all our strength."

The positions of Palestinian parties are compared on the political spectrum page for Palestine.

Differing perspectives

Was Israeli forces' use of lethal force in Burqa justified, and how should settler attacks be addressed?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• A child was killed and medics were blocked

  Who holds it: Palestinian Ministry of Health; Palestine Red Crescent Society; Wafa

  Israeli forces stormed Burqa, opened live fire at residents and killed 14-year-old Moataz Daghlas, wounding a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old. They prevented ambulance crews from reaching him before his death, briefly detained three volunteer paramedics, detained his father and withheld his body. The ministry was informed of his death through the General Authority of Civil Affairs.

  In their words: Wafa ↗

• Lethal force only against an imminent threat to life

  Who holds it: UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory

  The office has verified the killing of 241 Palestinian children by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023, most of them teenage boys, often with stone-throwing cited as justification. Its assessment is that none of those killed in confrontations posed an imminent threat to life, the only legal basis for lethal force in the West Bank under international law.

  In their words: BBC (reporting the UN Human Rights Office's findings) ↗

• Protect harvesters from settler violence

  Who holds it: Rabbis for Human Rights

  Israeli rabbis and activists accompany Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest because settlers attack them. Near Qusra, club-carrying settlers attacked even after soldiers arrived and attacked again after tear gas was fired, injuring six people including a journalist and a Palestinian resident. The group says it called the police when the settlers first gathered on a hill, yet the attack still went ahead, and it released footage of the assault.

  In their words: The Jerusalem Post (reporting Rabbis for Human Rights' account) ↗

• Soldiers acted to remove a threat to vehicles

  Who holds it: Israeli military

  Soldiers in Burqa opened fire to prevent Palestinians from throwing stones at Israeli vehicles, in an area where stones had been thrown at traffic before. Stone-throwing at moving vehicles can kill. In its statement, the military said: "The forces responded with gunfire to neutralise the threat and several hits were confirmed." The military confirmed the shooting publicly and presented it as a response to a threat to Israeli motorists.

  In their words: Al Jazeera (quoting the Israeli military's statement) ↗

{{cite news |title=Israeli forces kill 14-year-old in Burqa as settlers attack harvesters and rabbis near Qusra |url=https://567politics.com/news/palestine-burqa-boy-14-killed-israeli-forces-qusra-settler-attack-rabbis-harvest-november-2026 |work=567politics |author=567 Politics staff |date=2026-11-10 |language=en}}

{
  "id": "https://567politics.com/news/palestine-burqa-boy-14-killed-israeli-forces-qusra-settler-attack-rabbis-harvest-november-2026",
  "type": "article-newspaper",
  "title": "Israeli forces kill 14-year-old in Burqa as settlers attack harvesters and rabbis near Qusra",
  "URL": "https://567politics.com/news/palestine-burqa-boy-14-killed-israeli-forces-qusra-settler-attack-rabbis-harvest-november-2026",
  "container-title": "567politics",
  "language": "en",
  "author": [
    {
      "literal": "567 Politics staff"
    }
  ],
  "issued": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2026,
        11,
        10
      ]
    ]
  }
}

<iframe src="https://567politics.com/embed/news/palestine-burqa-boy-14-killed-israeli-forces-qusra-settler-attack-rabbis-harvest-november-2026?theme=auto" title="Israeli forces kill 14-year-old in Burqa as settlers attack harvesters and rabbis near Qusra by 567politics" width="100%" height="440" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:14px">Israeli forces kill 14-year-old in Burqa as settlers attack harvesters and rabbis near Qusra by <a href="https://567politics.com/news/palestine-burqa-boy-14-killed-israeli-forces-qusra-settler-attack-rabbis-harvest-november-2026" rel="nofollow">567politics</a></p>
<script async src="https://567politics.com/embed.js"></script>