A group of Jewish youths apparently tied up and beat an armed but injured Palestinian during clashes last week next to the Yitzhar settlement, according to an Israel Defense Forces inquiry into recent clashes between Israelis from the Yitzhar settlement and Palestinians from the West Bank village of Orif. The Palestinian man, who was reportedly armed with a knife, had been shot in his stomach by a settlement security response team. Clashes began on May 26 after dozens of settlers trespassed on land belonging to Orif residents. Palestinians claimed the settlers set fire to fields and olive groves. Yitzhar residents claimed that Palestinians initiated the clashes by setting fires on land near the settlement. No Yitzhar residents have been arrested over the incident. According to the investigation, during the fires, one Israeli youth shouted that he had located an armed Palestinian. The settler response team opened fire toward a group of Palestinians, wounding one of them in his stomach. The Yitzhar youths apparently then ran to the wounded man, tied his hands, and began to beat him. Israeli forces quickly arrived at the scene, stopped the beating and bandaged the wounded man. The soldiers then evacuated him to the Red Crescent, the regional arm of the International Red Cross, for further care. "This is a grave incident ... it was his [the wounded man's] luck that the IDF arrived quickly," said an official of the IDF Judea and Samaria Division. He added that the injured man did possess a large knife, though he did not have a gun. The IDF official also said that forces did not arrest the Yitzhar youths on the spot because they were busy with other missions. He noted that a police investigation had already begun and weapons had been confiscated. According to reports, Israel Police confiscated the weapons of five settlement security resonse team members. The IDF has also clarified the guidelines for settler security response teams, which are local patrols intended to preserve security in and around settlements. This is not the first instance of violence in the area. In September 2011, dozens of Palestinians and Israeli settlers clashed at the entrance to the Palestinian village of Asira al-Qibliya, also near the settlement of Yitzhar. On May 19, Judea and Samaria District Police began investigating another incident in the area.