Two Palestinians Killed in Settler Raid as IDF Faces New Accusations of Joint Operations

Two men are dead in the occupied West Bank, and the reporting on who pulled the trigger does not agree with itself.

Owda Abd al-Rahim Owda Farakhna, 53, and Ahmed Adel Rashid Abu Makho, 26, were killed late on the night of Sunday, July 19, 2026, in the village of Deir Jarir, northeast of Ramallah, during what multiple outlets describe as a settler raid in which Israeli forces were also present. The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the deaths on Monday morning, July 20 ⁷¹¹.

Anadolu Agency, citing Palestinian officials, reported that Israeli occupiers opened fire during the attack late Sunday ³. Press TV said residents were trying to repel a settler raid when forces killed the two men ⁵. The Yemen Press Agency, citing WAFA and the health ministry, said the two "succumbed to wounds sustained late Sunday night after being shot during a settlers' attack" ¹¹. The Guardian reported that residents accused the IDF of working with the settlers in the raid itself ².

Those are the facts a reader can hold. Beyond them, the sources begin to pull in different directions.

Al-Quds reported that the health ministry said the two were killed "by Israeli settler bullets" ⁷. Jordan News, citing the same ministry, attributed the fire to "occupation forces' fire" and listed three wounded ⁸. The two readings are not identical, and the reporting file flags the difference without declaring a winner. Either settlers alone fired, or soldiers did, or both did together. The available wire copy does not resolve the question.

Both men were named by the Palestinian health ministry on Monday. Farakhna was 53. Abu Makho was 26 ⁷¹¹. They were buried the same day ²¹⁰. Reporting describes them as residents of Deir Jarir. No further biographical detail appears in the provided sources.

The number of wounded is itself contested. Anadolu, Middle East Monitor and other outlets that drew on the Palestinian health ministry's first statement said "another was injured" — a single wounded person ³⁹. Jordan News, citing the same ministry, reported three wounded with various injuries "by occupation forces and settlers" ⁸. The reporting file flags the one-versus-three gap and does not resolve it.

The Guardian's account centers on the residents' version of events: that the raid was not a settler action the army merely failed to prevent, but one soldiers took part in. The paper reported that residents accused the IDF of working with the settlers during the raid ². That framing — joint operation, not bystander — is what makes this incident harder to file under the older "settler violence, army response" template. It is also an accusation, not an established finding, and no Israeli official response to the allegation appears in the available reporting.

B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization, said on Monday that West Bank killings demonstrate Israel's encouragement of "ethnic cleansing" against Palestinians, according to Middle East Monitor ¹⁰. No extended verbatim quote from B'Tselem on this specific raid appears in the available reporting; the characterization is theirs, the words are the monitor's.

The provided sources do not contain an Israeli military statement on the raid, an indictment, an investigation, or any official Israeli response. They do not name the settlers involved, identify a specific unit of soldiers, or describe in detail the sequence of the night — what was stolen, how many times settlers returned, whether ambulances were blocked, or whether fire was directed at medical vehicles. Those details, familiar from earlier raids reported elsewhere, are not present in this source set and cannot be confirmed from it. They should not be carried forward as if they were established.