Israel’s top military spokesman said on Monday that the spike in Jewish “terrorism” is driving Palestinians to carry out attacks.
Over the weekend, armed Israeli settlers entered the West Bank town of Burqa and shot dead 19-year-old Qosai Jammal Mi’tan during clashes that erupted.
Four other Palestinians were wounded in the incident.
In an interview with the Israeli news site Ynet, Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari described the incident as “terrorism. There is no other way to define it.”
“In recent months, there has been an increase in nationalist crime and nationalist terrorism,” he said.
"And let there be no doubt. These incidents drive people in the Palestinian Authority who are not involved in terror – to terror,” he added.
Residents of Burqa told Haaretz that the incident began around 6.30 P.M., when settlers arrived at the western part of the village with around 40 sheep, and started vandalizing property.
Palestinian alleged that it took the Israeli army three hours to respond to the attack.
“That is a lie. We received the first call about friction in Burqa from the Palestinian Authority at 8 P.M.,” Hagari responded, adding that they only received the exact location an hour later.
While many in Israel have expressed outrage over the killing, government ministers did not condemn the incident.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that “Anyone who defends himself from stone-throwing should receive a commendation.”
He added that he hopes for a “thorough investigation also of the Arab rioters who threw stones and tried to murder Jews.”
Another member of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party, Limor Son Har-Melech, compared the murder of the Palestinian to the Tel Aviv shooting attack Saturday night, in which a Palestinian gunman from Jenin killed patrolman Chen Amir.
“When a patrolman neutralizes a terrorist, he garners praise from defense officials. But when a Jew defends his life from an Arab mob in [the West Bank,] he’s arrested while wounded,” she said.
One of the Israeli settlers who has been detained over suspected involvement in the killing, Elisha Yered, previously served as Har-Melech’s spokesperson.