“Daily attacks”

Dead, hundreds injured: Settler violence escalates

Palestinian paramedics assist a man who was attacked with pepper spray by Israeli settlers.(Bild: AFP/HAZEM BADER)

From arson and pepper spray attacks to deadly assaults: Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank has increased dramatically. The UN is sounding the alarm, and several countries have now imposed sanctions. 

Last year, at least seven Palestinians were killed and 832 others injured, according to the report by the UN Commission of Inquiry. This means the number of victims has more than doubled compared to 2024.

Farmer killed by a shot to the head
A gruesome example: In July 2025, settlers—accompanied by Israeli soldiers—attacked Palestinians as they were tilling their fields. According to the report, one farmer was killed by a shot to the head, and another was beaten to death. “This trend continues in 2026 with daily attacks,” the UN states.

Israeli soldiers in front of a field that was reportedly set on fire by settlers.(Bild: AFP/HAZEM BADER)

An armed settler among the Israeli soldiers(Bild: AFP/HAZEM BADER)

Palestinians protesting the arson are being dispersed.(Bild: AFP/HAZEM BADER)

Police and the judiciary take no action
The Israeli authorities thus enable these attacks through financial and military support. The police and state judiciary, in turn, have done little to address settler violence for decades, which amounts to systematic impunity.

“Attacks must stop”
“The relentless, daily attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians are intolerable and must stop,” demanded Commission Chair Srinivasan Muralidhar. The international community must exert massive pressure on Israel to end the violence against settlers once and for all. The EU recently imposedadditional sanctions due to violence by radical Israeli settlers.

France imposes entry ban on Smotrich
On Tuesday, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway also imposed coordinated sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers. France has also imposed an entry ban on Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, four leaders of settler organizations, and 21 violent settlers, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced.

“Jewish terror”
Israel regularly dismisses criticism of settlers’ actions against Palestinians in the West Bank as unfounded. Since the devastating Hamas massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and the resulting Gaza war, violence by radical settlers against Palestinians and their property has increased significantly. Israeli media sometimes refer to this as “Jewish terror.”

Threatened by Hamas in Gaza
While Palestinians in the West Bank face threats of settler violence, those in the Gaza Strip are exposed to the brutality of the radical Islamic group Hamas, as the commission emphasizes. Over the past two years, it identified 249 cases of executions and severe physical violence in the Gaza Strip, resulting in at least 108 deaths and 384 injuries. According to the report, forces affiliated with Hamas were involved in at least 60 of these incidents. These acts constituted war crimes such as murder and torture, as well as violations of human rights and humanitarian law.

The full report of the UN Commission can be found here:

Decades of Violence
Under international law, the West Bank, like the Gaza Strip, is considered part of the territories occupied by Israel. Violence by settlers dates back to the 1970s. Today, more than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem amid some three million Palestinians. The Palestinians claim these territories for their own state.