Ramallah, West Bank - One Palestinian was killed and another 25 injured as Israeli settlers ran amok in a village near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday, Palestinian health officials said.

Settlers entered the village of Al-Mughayyir, some 12 miles north-east of Ramallah, with firearms after a 14-year-old by from their illegal settlement of Malachei Hashalom disappeared while tending a herd of animals.

Israeli security claimed that they initially entered al-Mughayyir to search for the settler boy, but that Palestinian residents responded by throwing stones and incendiary devices at the soldiers, three of whom reportedly suffered minor injuries.

"Settlers raided the town with the excuse of searching for the missing Israeli boy," village mayor Amin Abu Alyah told AFP. "They raided the village when the army arrived to back them up."

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Armed with guns and stones, the settlers stormed the Palestinian village even as a muezzin urged residents to stay indoors.

Eight of those wounded in the attack were hit with live ammunition, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

Malachei Hashalom was declared an official settlement in early 2023. Like all such Israeli encroachments into West Bank territory, it is considered illegal by international law, and recent expansions may constitute war crimes.

Settlers often attack Palestinians in their homes or their fields, backed by the Israeli army. As of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, an already dire situation has only gotten worse, to the point where US President Joe Biden – normally an unconditional supporter of Israel – has taken some measures against the "intolerable levels" of violence.

Over 450 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been killed, while entire villages have been ethnically cleansed by settlers armed by the Israeli state and sometimes incorporated into the military.