NBC News crew beaten with clubs in violent attack by Israeli settlers in West Bank

Verdict: Mostly true, but the Express report contains several inaccuracies and exaggerations.

The central event is verified. On August 29, 2026, masked Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian woman and members of an NBC News team in Jalud, near Nablus. Video shows an Israeli-plated car approaching before at least four masked men emerged, struck people with sticks and threw stones. NBC correspondent Matt Bradley and three other crew members were injured and treated.

Corrections and qualifications:

Four NBC crew members—not eight: NBC identified Bradley, a producer, a camera operator and a driver. Some secondary accounts called it an eight-person crew, but NBC’s own report says four team members were present and injured.

The interviewee was Aida Ahmed Abdullah: Mahmoud Toubasi is her husband. Describing the interview simply as being with “the family of Mahmoud al-Tubasi” is imprecise.

Toubasi’s own assault is uncertain: A Palestinian news-agency account says both spouses were attacked, but NBC’s detailed account specifically documents Abdullah and the NBC personnel being struck.

“Beating them severely with clubs” overstates the established details: The attackers used sticks or wooden planks and rocks. All four crew members received treatment; Bradley was struck twice on the arm. Abdullah was hospitalized, but Israeli authorities said her injuries were not life-threatening.
Equipment and a vehicle were damaged: NBC producer Lawahez Jabari confirmed damage to camera equipment and one crew vehicle. “Smashed” is journalistic wording but substantially consistent with the video and reporting.

Identification as settlers has more support than merely Israeli license plates: NBC characterized them as masked Israeli settlers; Israeli security forces acknowledged that “Israeli rioters” had entered the area, and Netanyahu subsequently condemned the violence in Jalud and neighboring Qusra.

A more accurate formulation would be:

Four members of an NBC News team and Palestinian resident Aida Ahmed Abdullah were injured when at least four masked Israeli settlers attacked them with sticks and stones in Jalud. Camera equipment and a crew vehicle were damaged. Abdullah was hospitalized with injuries described as non-life-threatening.

Thus, the attack was not fabricated, but the Express conflated accounts and inflated the crew from four to eight while using stronger injury language than NBC’s evidence warrants.