More than 100 Israeli settlers, including armed men, attacked Palestinian civilians late Thursday in the village of Jit, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

The Israeli settler assault killed a young man and wounded several other Palestinians, WAFA added, noting that four houses and six vehicles were set on fire.

Palestinians interviewed by The Associated Press confirmed the numbers, stating that masked settlers entered the village, shot live ammunition, burned homes and cars, and damaged water tankers.

Sufian Jit, a resident of the village, said he called the Israeli army and firefighters for help, but firefighters never arrived. Palestinians had to extinguish the fires themselves until soldiers arrived after two hours.

"It was more than 100 settlers against us. At the beginning, there were just a few people trying to stop them, and then later the whole town came and stopped them," he said.

The Palestinian foreign ministry on Friday described the Israeli settler attack on Palestinians as "organized state terrorism," as mourners prepared for the funeral of 23-year-old Rasheed Mahmoud Abed Al Khadier Sadah.

His relative, Ibrahim Sadah, said that many residents had wanted to help defend the village but had to take shelter once settlers began firing live ammunition.

International reactions
 

The Israeli settler rampage received a strong rebuke from the White House, which described the attack as "unacceptable."

"Violent attacks by settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank are unacceptable and must stop. Israeli authorities need to take necessary measures to protect all residents," a White House spokesperson said in response to a journalist.

US ambassador to Israel Jack Lew wrote on social media platform X that he was "appalled" by the attack, demanding rioters to be held accountable.

Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, strongly condemned the settler attack.

"Concrete steps to ensure full accountability for all involved are urgently needed," he stressed in a post on X.

The UN human rights office described the attack as "horrific," adding that "by and large, we are seeing impunity" for such attacks.

"It was horrific. What is striking and important to remember is that yesterday's killing in Jit is not an isolated attack, and it is the direct consequence of Israel's policy of settlement in the West Bank," UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a press briefing.

EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said he would propose sanctions against Israeli government "enablers" of settler violence, following the deadly attack in the occupied West Bank.

"Day after day, in an almost total impunity, Israeli settlers fuel violence in the occupied West Bank, contributing to endanger any chance of peace," Borrell posted on X.

"The Israeli government must stop these unacceptable actions immediately," he wrote, vowing to "table a proposal for EU sanctions against violent settlers' enablers, including some Israeli government members."

French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné condemned the settler attack on Palestinians as "unacceptable" and warned of the potential impact on Gaza ceasefire talks.

"Any action that could jeopardize the negotiation process towards a ceasefire deal is unacceptable," Séjourné said in Jerusalem a day after the attack that left one dead.

Britain’s Foreign Minister David Lammy called the deadly settler attack "abhorrent" and condemned it "in the strongest of terms."

"The scenes overnight of the burning and the torching of buildings, of the Molotov cocktails thrown at cars... and chasing of people from their homes is abhorrent, and I condemn it in the strongest of terms," he told reporters during a visit to Jerusalem.

Germany echoed this condemnation, with the foreign ministry in Berlin stating on X that it "condemns the violence of extremist settlers."

"This violence is unacceptable; the attacks must stop immediately," it said, adding that "Palestinians have a right to live in safety. Israel has an obligation to protect Palestinians in the West Bank."

Israeli reactions
 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he took the riots "seriously" and promised that Israelis who carried out criminal acts would be prosecuted.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also condemned the attack, as did Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who said the settlers had "attacked innocent people" and did not "represent the values" of settler communities.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — an ultranationalist settler who has turbocharged settlement expansion, railed against US sanctions on violent settlers, and previously defended violent settlers as heroes — labelled the rioters "criminals" who were "in no way related to the settlement and the settlers."

Ultra-orthodox Interior Minister Moshe Arbel called on Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency to investigate those involved and said the riot ran against Jewish values and harmed the "settlement enterprise."

The Israeli military reported that it had arrested one Israeli civilian in connection with the violence and opened an investigation.

Police did not say whether the civilian was still in custody on Friday. Rights groups say that arrests for settler violence are rare, and prosecutions even rarer.

Israel's left-leaning Haaretz newspaper reported in 2022 that, based on statistics from the Israeli police, charges were pressed in only 3.8 percent of cases of settler violence, with most cases being opened and closed without any action being taken.

1,000 settler attacks
 

Since Israel’s war on Gaza began, violence against Palestinians has flared in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Palestinian health officials say 633 Palestinians, including 147 children and teenagers, have been killed by Israeli fire and over 5,400 injured.

Many have been killed during Israeli military raids into Palestinian cities and towns, but settlers have killed at least 11 Palestinians, including two children, and injured 234 people, according to AIDA, a coalition of nonprofit and other groups working in the territory.

The UN documented over 1,000 settler attacks in the West Bank since the start of the war, averaging four a day. That is double the average during the same period last year, AIDA said.

Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank — considered illegal under international law — has also hit new records.

Netanyahu, head of the conservative Likud party, has governed Israel since December 2022 with the support of far-right formations advocating more Israeli settlements in the West Bank or even outright annexation.