In the West Bank, in the Middle East, a dangerous divide is growing between Palestinians, many of them grieving fathers who lost their sons, brothers who lost their brothers, and settlers, Israelis, living in the occupied West Bank. Some of them accused of inciting violence against Palestinians. Now, some Western nations are taking unprecedented action, the UK following the US, by sanctioning some of those settlers. One settler on both lists, Ynon Levy, where James Longman spoke to Levy and to the grieving father of a Palestinian American, 17 years old, killed in this violence in tonight's Prime Focus.

This is the old village This is the old, old houses.

Hafez Abdul Jaba is driving you around his West Bank village.

This is the house.

We stop outside his family's ancestral home.

My grandfather and my dad was born in the room next to it. 1948. My dad and my grandfather, 1904, in this house, right here. This is where we played all our childhood. Until '96, when I left, I was still living here.

Hafez's happy childhood memories are now colored by his new reality. The death of his son, Tawfik.

This is the grave of Tawfik. His grave is right there inside this graveyard. See where the flags are?

Just 100 meters from where his great grandfather was born, Tawfik Abdel Jaba is buried. Born and raised in New New Orleans, 17-year-old Tawfik has now become an accidental martyr for the Palestinian cause. Tawfik had finished high school in New Orleans and was spending the year with his family. His father says he was getting to know his cousins and loving the chance of getting to know his roots. But one Friday in January, says his dad, he was driving to a picnic with a friend when he was killed on this hillside road. Hafez shows me the spot.

So we're looking at that dirt road just down there. That's the road where Tawfik was killed.

He was ambushed, and they shot him executed him from a very short distance. He didn't see them. He didn't see them coming. He didn't see them hiding. They just came out of the trees and just started shooting.

Bullet holes cover the back of the truck, and videos from the scene on the day show Talfeek's blood in the footwell. The circumstance The answers of his death remain unclear. In a statement, the IDF say they received a report of an off-duty police officer and a civilian who shot at a Palestinian suspected of throwing stones. An off-duty IDF soldier was also present at the point. The Israel police is reviewing the incident in which the police investigation unit is cooperating with the military criminal investigation division. Have you had any answers from the Israeli authority?

From the first minute, they started telling lies that my son was throwing rocks. How can you throw a rock while he was driving? You driving away. Clean heart, big heart, always smiles. Born and raised in New Orleans, 16 years there. He only been here 9 months. It's not like he's been here and he knows the situation. No, he doesn't know nothing. He's a young kid. American counselor tell me that they're going to do an investigation themselves. So I'm hoping for that, to find out who killed my son.

When Hafez got the news, he rushed to the site. He says IDF soldiers were there, pointing guns at him.

I took my son out with my left hand. They don't understand that now my house household is a whole different household from January 19. It changed. It will be changed forever. They scarred my family like that. They did that to my family.

The State Department has said they hope and expect that the investigation will be conducted expeditiously. They continued, We're eager to hear and learn of the findings. Since Hamas's October seventh attack, the United Nations has documented more than 500 incidents in the occupied West Bank, and violence by settlers has surged. In an unprecedented move, President Biden issued sanctions to four settlers accused of inciting violence or being involved in attacks on Palestinians. These initial sanctions aren't related to Tawfik's murder. One of the most serious cases was an attack on the village of Kusra on October 12th. Ibrahim Al-Wadi and his son, Ahmed, had been in a funeral procession for four other Palestinians, allegedly killed by armed settlers a day earlier. According to eyewitness, They were set upon and shot to death in their car. The IDF says the incident remains under review and that Israeli border police is still under active investigation. Abdelazim is Ibrahim's brother. He was there and says he was separated from them in the chaos. You were stuck in the field for two hours.

You didn't know what had happened, but you'd heard that your brother and his son had been killed in the car.

Abdelazim says the deaths are hard, but he says the daily humiliation is almost unbearable.

So such as the level of fear that they live in, where they actually have a security system set up, and they have cameras outside their house. And this is in case settlers come or anyone else comes, and they have proof of what's going on here. Actually, he says that just yesterday, the Israeli army actually came through, and there were images all over the village of his brother and his son who had been killed. They were watching as Israeli armed forces just pulled down all those posters.

Watch as the soldier stops and then pulls down the poster. The IDF did not respond to this specific incident. Abdul walks me down to the cemetery where his brother and nephew were buried, past the stemples of them both, and now adorn walls in remembrance. We go onto the road where they were killed.

I'm asking him what he makes of President Biden's decision to put sanctions on four individuals.

He says, Look, it's something to have hope about. It's just the beginning, only four, but maybe it's the start of something.

One of those sanctioned is 32-year-old Ynon Levy. He was not involved in the killings of Tawfik, Ibrahim, or Ahmad, but the Biden administration accused him of creating an atmosphere of fear in the West Bank. According to the announcement by the US State Department, Levy and other settlers at Mitterim Farm have repeatedly attacked Palestinian and Bedouin civilians and threatened them with additional violence if they don't leave their homes. Levy's wife, Sapir, shows me around their farm on this remote outpost. They keep sheep, she says, to claim territory on surrounding hills. Sanctions mean their bank accounts are frozen, making it more difficult to manage their business.

But what difference will the sanctions make to your business?

All of this, it costs a lot of money that we (Rael) I work very hard to do all of this, and it's from my husband money all the time. (rael) And now it's blocked.

(rael) So could the sanctions cause this farm to shut down?

(rael) No, we won't let it.

(rael) Okay, so how will you get around it?

We're going to work harder.

(rael) Sapier translates for us back in their kitchen.

We're here, obviously, because of what happened with the sanctions from the President. When did you find out that the sanctions had been put on you?

We both was very surprised that the President of the United States is interested in people like us, in Israel, simple people.

Well, because the Biden administration said that you launched an attack on a Palestinian community, that you incite violence against Palestinians.

It's not true. It's not true? No.

So you've never seen that?

We're here, and we have to defend ourselves, and nothing may ever lose it.

Abc News obtained videos from April 2022 and March 2023 of Yunon Levy with his dog discouraging Arabs Arabs and activists from herding sheep in the area. In another video Levy from October 2023. Levy has seen getting off a bulldozer with a weapon threatening Arab civilians. In a written response to the videos, Levy told us, This is exactly what I explained. Anarchists come to our territory and do provocations. They disturb the soldiers. They attack us, the dog and the sheep on purpose and document it for provocation. Benjamin Netanyahu has come to the settler's defense, condemming US sanctions. Israel acts against all Israelis who break the law everywhere. Therefore, exceptional measures are unnecessary. Back with the Levis, I explain that the international community hopes to create a Palestinian state, and that their presence here is a major hurdle. Right.

That you're living on land which is designated as a Palestinian state. So you're living on land which is illegally occupied.

Us living here in Israel, it's the only option we have to the Jews. We also what happened when we didn't have a country. So we don't have another option.

These parts of the West Bank are not part of an Israeli state, according to international law. Do you think one day perhaps there might be peace between your communities?

Only if the Arabs stopped attacking us in violence.

I'm standing in their houses and they're saying the same thing about you.

Yes, but I know who writes.

I walk to the nearby hillside with Levy.

Can I tell you the story of the 17-year-old boy? I just wonder what you would do in this situation.

Okay.

He agrees.

So He was going to a farm for a picnic, for a cookout. He was driving in his truck with his friend. Out of nowhere, a group of people came out of the bushes. The Israeli authorities say either a settler or an IDF or a policeman, and they shot into the back of the truck. He was killed. What would you do if you were a member of his family?

Back in the car with Telfiq's dad, we passed pictures of his young son.

How does it feel for you driving past his picture in your village?

It's painful. I'm proud that... I'm happy that I brought him here. He lived very nice pictures all over, over him. But I'm happy for him that he lived He was enjoying every minute of it. But it hurts for me to lose 17 years old that he haven't lived his life. He had a whole life ahead of him.

The human reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we thank James Longman for that report. Hi, everyone. George Stephanopouls here. Thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel. If you'd like to get more videos, show highlights, and watch live event coverage, click on the right over here to subscribe to our channel. And don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts. Thanks for watching.