‘Highest number since records began’: UN condemns increase and intensity of attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank

image source, Getty Images

photo caption, A Palestinian family looks at the remains of a house burnt down by Palestinian settlers in the village of Abu Farah.

- author, Yolande Nell
- author title, BBC Middle East correspondent
6 hours

This week, dozens of Israeli settlers launched arson attacks on Palestinian warehouses, Bedouin villages and farmland in the occupied northern West Bank.

The incidents, which left several people injured, are the latest in a surge in settler violence, which coincides with the olive harvest, when Palestinians head to farmland around towns and cities.

And they come shortly after the United Nations Humanitarian Office announced that the number of violent attacks by Israeli settlers last month was the highest since it began collecting data nearly two decades ago.

Israel has built nearly 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem (territory that Palestinians claim as a future state along with Gaza) during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live adjacent to these settlements, which are illegal under international law.

Footage from Tuesday showed dozens of masked men on a hillside east of Turkham. A Palestinian warehouse in Beit Lid was attacked and several trucks were set on fire.

In the Bedouin village of Deir Sharaf, tents were seen burning and a woman’s screams could be heard in the background.

The remains of a burnt-out truck in front of a complex with smoke staining the brick walls — photo caption, One of this week’s attacks was against a warehouse.

“Intimidation and fear”

Palestinian Authority Minister Mouayad Shaaban, head of the Wall and Settlements Resistance Committee, said the attack was part of a campaign to impose a “hostile environment of intimidation and terror.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that its forces were at the scene “to quell the confrontation using riot-control measures” and detained several Israeli civilians. The soldiers were then attacked by settlers who had gathered nearby, adding that their vehicle was also damaged.

Israeli police announced that four suspects had been arrested.

In a post on X, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called recent events “shocking and serious” and blamed them on “a handful of violent and dangerous individuals.”

“This violence against civilians and IDF soldiers crosses a red line that I strongly condemn.”

Palestinians put out a fire after being attacked by Israeli settlers in al-Laden, near the West Bank village of Beit Ridd. — photo caption, The United Nations said October’s number of violent attacks on settlers was the highest since records began in 2006.

Major General Avi Bruce, commander of the Israel Defense Forces’ Central Command, also condemned the attack, saying such incidents “destroy the stability of the security situation.”

“The reality that young extremist anarchists are committing acts of violence against innocent civilians and security forces is unacceptable and extremely serious. It must be dealt with decisively,” Bruce told officers in comments sent by the Israeli military.

“The instructions to IDF soldiers are clear: not to remain silent, but to do everything possible to prevent nationalist crimes.”

Tuesday’s large-scale attack was a rare case in which Israeli law enforcement acted to counter settler violence, which has increased dramatically since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza War.

Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din said that of 1,701 police investigations into crimes committed by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) between 2005 and 2024, 93.8% were concluded without any charges being filed.

Three masked men attack photographer with clubs inside store — photo caption, Masked men brandishing clubs and attacking Palestinians and activists.

“Palestinians must be protected”

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 260 attacks by Israeli settlers were recorded in October, resulting in casualties and/or property damage, for an average of eight attacks a day.

OCHA reports that settler violence during the olive harvest has reached its highest level on record in recent years, with nearly 150 attacks recorded to date, injuring more than 140 Palestinians and destroying more than 4,200 trees and saplings in 77 villages.

Around 1,500 settler attacks have been recorded since the beginning of this year.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher recently wrote in X magazine: “Failure to prevent or punish these attacks violates international law. Palestinians must be protected. Impunity will not prevail. Those responsible must be held accountable.”

Palestinians and human rights groups often accuse the IDF of protecting or aiding extremist settlers.

Hundreds of people attended the funeral of 13-year-old Aysam Muara in Beita, near Nablus, on Tuesday. The boy had been in a coma since inhaling tear gas fired by the IDF while villagers were harvesting olives near the village of Evyatar last month.

In some cases, Israeli activists and foreign volunteers who came to help Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest were also attacked.

A woman with a bandaged arm is helped off a stretcher from an ambulance in the West Bank by paramedics. — photo caption, Israeli activists say Reuters photographer Raneen Safta was attacked by settlers with sticks and stones during Saturday’s attack near Beita.

Increase in settlements

Videos from Beita posted on social media on Saturday showed masked men beating local Palestinians and volunteer emergency workers with sticks, as well as a Reuters photographer and a security adviser.

An Israeli civilian who participated in the harvest, the 77-year-old director of the Tel Aviv School of Art, was also photographed with a bloody face.

The BBC has contacted the IDF for comment on the incident.

In the nearby village of Burin, settlers attacked Palestinian olive pickers and an off-duty IDF reservist who was helping them. The settlers also stole bags of olives.

“Several Israeli civilians threw stones at the pickers. Several Israelis and Palestinians were injured and evacuated for treatment,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. They added that soldiers “acted to diffuse the confrontation.”

The olive harvest is an important annual event for Palestinians and an important source of income for many.

According to Israeli settlement monitoring group Peace Now, the number of new homes being built in West Bank settlements that are open for tender in 2025 has already reached a yearly high of 5,667. The group says the homes will house around 25,000 residents.

Israel’s pro-settlement Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has prioritized accelerating the planning and approval process for new settler housing, expropriating land for settlement construction and infrastructure, and retroactively legalizing outposts established without Israeli government permission.

In addition to his role as finance minister, Smotrich also holds the position of cabinet minister responsible for civil affairs in the West Bank. He said his efforts were aimed at effectively annexing the West Bank to Israel and preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.