‘Israeli settlers are in partnership with the army,’ say Palestinians after two shot dead in West Bank

Residents of Deir Jarir say raids late on Sunday, also involving security forces, are part of pattern of violence

Even by the brutal standards of militant settler violence in the West Bank, the raid on Deir Jarir late on Sunday night that killed two Palestinians and left another in hospital with a gunshot wound was extreme.

Palestinians in the town said settlers from a nearby outpost arrived after 9pm on Sunday claiming that they were searching for stolen livestock. Israeli soldiers and police soon joined them, protecting them as they sought to take several villagers' sheep by force.