RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories, Aug 13, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Palestinian officials said an Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, while the army confirmed an off-duty soldier shot someone it said was throwing rocks.

The confrontation marks the latest fatal clash in the Palestinian territory, where violence has surged since the start of the Gaza war.

"Thameen Khalil Reda Dawabsheh (35 years old) was killed by settler gunfire in the town of Duma, south of Nablus," the Palestinian Authority's health ministry said in a statement.

Contacted by AFP, Duma village council head Suleiman Dawabsheh said that a confrontation broke out when a group of Israeli settlers trespassed on land north of the town while farmers worked on their land.

"A group of settlers arrived on a tractor and another vehicle, and immediately tried to kidnap a boy about 14-15 years old, taking him away," he told AFP.

Dawabsheh said that residents managed to retrieve the boy, but that during the ensuing argument, "one of the settlers opened fire directly at the young man Thameen Dawabsheh".

The army said in a statement that during engineering work near Duma, dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks towards Israelis including an off-duty soldier and a civilian, a term the army commonly uses to refer to settlers.

The off-duty soldier, also a settler according to the mayor, fired warning shots at first, and when rock throwing continued, fired again until "a hit was identified".

The army said that soldiers were then dispatched to break up the incident.

"As a result of the rock hurling, the civilian and the soldier were lightly injured and received medical treatment at the scene," it added.

Duma, a town in the northern West Bank, is a frequent theatre of settler violence.

In 2015, a Palestinian couple and their baby burned to death after settlers attacked the village, a tragedy that residents remember to this day.

In April 2025, hundreds of settlers attacked Duma and stabbed a villager after an Israeli teenager who often visited a nearby settlement outpost was found dead.

The West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as about 500,000 Israeli settlers.

Violence in the Palestinian territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 triggered the Gaza war.

Since then, Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 968 Palestinians, including many militants, according to health ministry figures.

Over the same period, at least 36 Israelis, including security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official figures.