IDF surveillance first noticed the Israelis walking within Area B near Tell at 7.27 am, and sent a small number of soldiers to lead the settlers out of the area.
Israeli settlers take part in an organised march between the Palestinian villages of Sarra and Tell in the West Bank on July 31, 2026, in memory of two Israelis killed during clashes involving settlers and villagers (Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images
Palestinian villagers began throwing stones as the IDF troops arrived to escort the settlers, resulting in one Israeli civilian being injured. The soldiers then split up: several treated the casualty, and a platoon commander attempted to push back the assailants.
Soon after, Major Yuval Ezra, 27, made his way to the site, accompanied by the security coordinator for the nearby outpost of Havat Gilad, who has not been named, and the coordinator’s deputy, Benayahu Mellet, 32.
The three men arrived at roughly the same time, as the fight was escalating.
At approximately 8.16 am, the coordinator and Mellet became engaged in a physical altercation with members of the Palestinian group.
The coordinator was seen taking his gun off his shoulder to force the Palestinian group back, but the firearm was taken by several Palestinians, and retrieved by Farouk Ramadan, a Tell resident, who began to shoot at the Israelis, according to the report.
The firefight lasted roughly 90 seconds, with Ezra, Mellet, the coordinator, the platoon commander already at the scene and the two off-duty soldiers (one of whom is an IDF reservist) returning fire. The coordinator discharged his handgun after his rifle was taken.
The probe declared that Ezra was killed after being shot in the head by Ramadan, who was in turn fatally wounded.
Mellet was also killed, with the probe determining he was possibly shot by either one of the soldiers or Ramadan. No conclusion could be reached as he was buried without an autopsy.
The IDF found that the platoon commander and two off-duty soldiers killed a further three Palestinians. Two more Palestinians, both of whom were seriously wounded, were taken prisoner by Israeli commandos at a Nablus hospital several hours after the clash.
The probe acknowledged that the soldiers were permitted to use fire, but that the number of soldiers who responded “was too small relative to the scale of the violent incident, the number of hikers, and the number of attackers”.
The investigation also found that nearby forces “did not act optimally to develop a complete situational picture, dispatch additional forces, and deploy medical teams as required”.
The IDF also said that the investigation uncovered a “serious failure” by the soldiers who left Mellet’s body at the scene “for many minutes”.
The shooting prompted a wave of retaliatory violence in the area from settlers, including the burning down of two mosques in nearby villages, according to Palestinian officials.
One of the sites, which had been under construction at the time of the arson, was graffitied with the word “revenge” in Hebrew.
An IDF soldier was filmed participating in the violence, slashing the tyres of a villager’s car, smashing its windscreen and striking it several times with his firearm.
The military later confirmed that the incident had occurred, saying it was “viewed with severity” and that an investigation had been opened.
Several settler groups also organised “memorial hikes” in the same area, which went ahead despite a lack of IDF authorisation.
