UN: Deadly settler violence in West Bank on the rise

Situation of the Palestinians

UN: Deadly settler violence in West Bank on the rise

The Israeli-occupied West Bank is increasingly becoming the scene of deadly violence against Palestinians, according to a UN report. The international community should exert more influence on Israel.

Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank has continued to increase, according to a UN commission. Last year, settlers killed at least seven Palestinians and injured 832 others, the UN Commission of Inquiry report said. This means that the number of victims has more than doubled compared to 2024.

For example, in July 2025, settlers – accompanied by Israeli soldiers – attacked Palestinians while they were cultivating their fields. One farmer was shot in the head and another was bludgeoned to death. “This trend will continue in 2026 with attacks carried out daily,” the UN said.

According to the report, Israeli authorities made these attacks possible through financial and military support. Israel’s judicial and law enforcement authorities, in turn, have granted decades of impunity for settler violence.

“Israeli settlers’ relentless, daily attacks on Palestinians are intolerable and must stop,” said UN Commission Chairman Srinivasan Muralidhar. The international community must exert massive pressure on Israel so that the violence against the settlers ends once and for all. The EU recently imposed additional sanctions due to violence by radical Israeli settlers.

Israel regularly rejects 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 Gaza war it triggered, the violence of radical settlers against Palestinians and their property has increased significantly. In the Israeli media there is sometimes talk of “Jewish terror”.

The report also takes a look at the Gaza Strip and the role of the Islamist Hamas there. The commission identified 249 cases of executions and serious physical violence in 2024 and 2025, resulting in at least 108 deaths and 384 injuries. Hamas-affiliated forces were involved in at least 60 of these incidents, according to the report. These acts constituted war crimes such as murder and torture, as well as violations of human rights and humanitarian law.

According to international jurisprudence, the West Bank, like the Gaza Strip, is one of the territories occupied by Israel. Settler violence dates back to the 1970s. According to the UN, the number of cases has increased sharply since 2023.

Today, more than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem among around three million Palestinians. The Palestinians claim the areas for their own state.