An Israeli man was shot and killed in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, according to the Israeli authorities, who said they had detained a Palestinian suspect over the attack. It was part of a broader surge in violence in the territory.

The victim was shot near a spring close to the Israeli settlement of Neve Tzuf, roughly a dozen miles north of Jerusalem, on the eve of the Yom Kippur holiday, Israeli officials said. A local settler council identified him in a statement as Netanel Shakrun, a father of six who had arrived at the spring to ritually bathe before the holiday, which begins Sunday evening.

The Israeli military and police said they had arrested a suspect at a hospital in the nearby Palestinian city of Ramallah. They did not immediately name him or provide further details about him.

Violence has escalated in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza. Israeli forces have launched sweeping military raids, saying they were seeking to root out Palestinian armed groups, displacing tens of thousands of people.

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A burnt structure made of corrugated metal and black wood rests on arid, reddish-brown earth. In the background, a green hill with buildings and an antenna is visible.
A farm shed set on fire by Israeli settlers in the village of Al-Tuwani, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, last week. Settler violence against Palestinians has increased in recent weeks.Credit…John Wessels/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
In recent weeks, Israeli civilians have committed a series of assaults against Palestinian homes in the north of the territory, including encircling and besieging a home belonging to an American citizen. In some cases, Israeli forces appeared to allow the attacks to proceed rather than immediately intervene, witnesses said.

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Those attacks have prompted global condemnation. Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, labeled the assailants in attacks on West Bank Palestinians as “terrorists” in a meeting with Palestinian-Americans in the West Bank this month. He called on Israel to act forcefully against them.

Britain, France, Canada and nine other countries announced this month that they would impose sweeping economic restrictions on West Bank settlements and those who fund them. Ed Miliband, the British foreign secretary, accused Israeli settlers of “ethnic cleansing” when he announced the measures.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory by Israeli forces and civilians since the start of the Gaza war, about 80 of them this year alone, according to a tally by the United Nations’ humanitarian office.

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Palestinian armed groups have carried out a smaller number of deadly attacks against Israeli civilians in the territory. More than 40 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank over the past three years, according to the U.N. figures.

Supporters of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel attribute that to a fierce military crackdown in the territory, which has seen Israeli forces take up positions inside Palestinian cities.

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Multiple people in black head coverings are visible against a light-colored wall. A person in the foreground holds a white tissue to their face, while another person behind them has tears.
Women at a hospital in Ramallah in the West Bank mourning a Palestinian man killed during a raid at a hospital by Israeli forces last week.Credit…Mohamad Torokman/Reuters
Critics of the policy say Israel’s tightening grip over the territory is making a future Palestinian uprising more likely. They say that Mr. Netanyahu’s government has undermined the Palestinian Authority, whose leaders work closely with Israel to arrest Palestinians suspected of militancy.

Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement after the attack on Sunday that he had ordered Israel’s security agencies to bolster their forces in the West Bank, impose curfews and make arrests, as well as to demolish the house of the man accused of the attack as soon as possible.

Yom Kippur, the holiday Jewish Israelis were preparing to observe as Sunday’s attack occurred, is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, when much of the country will come to a standstill.