Settler Violence = State Violence

In recent years — and especially since 7 October 2023 — there has been a sharp increase in both the number and severity of settler attacks against Palestinians. The incidents reported on this blog do not reflect all incidents of settler violence in the West Bank, but only those that B’Tselem was able to document and investigate.

Download the monthly totals (CSV)

Displaying 961-980 of 2013 updates. An update can cover more than one incident.

Incident type

Area

District

Locality

Dates

From date

To date

Israeli forces present

During the olive harvest

Communities forcibly transferred or facing forced transfer

April 2023

5 April 2023 Kh. al-Fakhit Incidents: 1

Kh. al-Fakhit, Masafer Yatta: Club-wielding Israeli settlers walk around Palestinian homes claiming to be looking for stolen sheep
5 April 2023 Kh. al-Fakhit Incidents: 1

Kh. al-Fakhit, Masafer Yatta: Club-wielding Israeli settlers walk around Palestinian homes claiming to be looking for stolen sheep
2 April 2023 Surif Incidents: 3

Surif, Hebron District: Israeli settlers attack village residents for three days. Israeli soldiers and police officers escorting them fire tear gas canisters and live rounds at the defending villagers

March 2023

31 March 2023 al-Mazra'ah al-Qibliyah Incidents: 1

Al-Mazra'ah al-Qibliyah, Ramallah District: Israeli settlers vandalize barbed wire fence and fence posts belonging to Palestinian
30 March 2023 Badu al-Mu'arrajat center Incidents: 1

A-Mu'arrajat, Ramallah District: Israeli settlers attack Palestinian tractor driver with stones, inuring him
29 March 2023 a-Taybah (Ramallah) Incidents: 1

A-Taybah, Ramallah District: Israeli settlers enter Palestinian home while the family was asleep, spray pepper spray and smash windows with stones
29 March 2023 Kisan Incidents: 1

Kisan, Bethlehem District: Israeli settlers use clubs and sharp objects in attack on Palestinian father and son who were grazing their flock
27 March 2023 Huwarah Incidents: 1

Huwarah, Nablus District: Israeli settlers vandalize stores, property and cars and attack residents in the presence of soldiers, who fired stun grenades and tear gas canisters at residents and houses. About ten young men were detained and released without
26 March 2023 Sinjil Incidents: 1

Sinjil, Ramallah District: Israeli settlers planting trees on Palestinians’ lands attack the farmers with clubs and pepper spray
26 March 2023 Deir Sharaf Incidents: 1

Deir Sharaf, Nablus District: Armed Israeli settlers steal donkey from Palestinian farm
26 March 2023 Badu al-Mu'arrajat center Incidents: 1

Al-Mu’arrajat, Ramallah District: Israeli settlers cut down dozens of olive trees, vandalize fence and steal fence posts belonging to Palestinians
25 March 2023 Kh. Humsah al-Foqa Incidents: 1

Humsah al-Foqa, Jordan Valley: Israeli settlers armed with clubs attack Palestinian shepherd and flock, and kill a goat
25 March 2023 Deir Sharaf Incidents: 1

Deir Sharaf, Nablus District: Israeli settlers enter Palestinian restaurant, threaten to shoot the owner and employees and pepper-spray one of them in the face. When the employees attempted to defend themselves, soldiers nearby fired in the air.
24 March 2023 Kh. 'Enizan Incidents: 1

Israeli settlers attack Palestinian shepherd after his children down a drone that scattered their flock. Soldiers handcuffed the shepherd and handed him over to the police
23 March 2023 a-Zuweidin Incidents: 1

Khirbet a-Zuweidin, South Hebron Hills: Israeli soldiers detain Palestinian farmers after an Israeli settler, who was grazing his flock on their land, claimed they attacked him
22 March 2023 Nab’ al-Ghazal (al-Farisiyah) Incidents: 1

Al-Farisiyah, Jordan Valley: Israeli settlers attack Palestinian shepherds and residents who rushed to defend them
21 March 2023 Burqah Incidents: 1

Burqah, Ramallah District: Israeli settlers slash tires of 19 Palestinian cars
18 March 2023 Kh. Wadi al-Faw Incidents: 1

Kh. Wadi al-Faw, Jordan Valley: Israeli settler drives into pastureland and chases a flock belonging to a Palestinian
16 March 2023 Kh. a-Tuba Incidents: 1

Khirbet a-Tuba, Masafer Yatta: Israeli settler attacks Palestinian farmer with steel bar and pepper sprays him in the eye
15 March 2023 a-Taybah (Ramallah) Incidents: 1

A-Taybah, Ramallah District: Masked Israeli settlers, one armed with a club, attack Palestinian family and try to steal their flock

Videos

All videos

Settler Violence = State Violence

Stealing the poor man’s lamb: As part of efforts to take over land in the West Bank, settlers steal sheep and goat flocks, often with assistance from the military, severely harming herders’ livelihoods

17 August 2026

Settler Violence = State Violence

Joint violence by the military and settler militias is a central component of Israel’s ethnic cleansing policy in the West Bank

11 June 2026

מתנחלים מכים באלות את מוחמד אבו סבחה השרוע על הקרקע. מתוך תיעוד במצלמות אבטחה באדיבות התושבים

Settler Violence = State Violence

South Hebron Hills, January 2026: Increased Israeli effort to complete ethnic cleansing of Area C

18 May 2026

East Jerusalem

For the first time since 1967, Israel is expelling an entire Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem

5 May 2026

Settler Violence = State Violence

A settler in military uniform shot and killed two Palestinian brothers as part of a settler attack on the village of Qaryut, Nablus District

1 April 2026

Settler Violence = State Violence

Khallet a-Sidrah, al-Quds District: Shepherding community facing immediate expulsion

25 January 2026

Settler Violence = State Violence

Israeli settlers engage in animal brutality as part of ongoing assault on Palestinian communities

6 January 2026

Settler Violence = State Violence

Wadi Ejheish, South Hebron Hills: Settlers attacked a home and tried to break in, smashed windows, pepper-sprayed six family members including a baby, slaughtered sheep and vandalized a car

9 November 2025

Settler violence log

Huwarah Junction, Nablus District: Settlers stop Palestinian car and violently assault passengers, then move on to nearest intersection and stone other cars

23 November 2020

Mustafa Ramadan’s car after settlers attacked it at the Huwarah Junction, 23 Nov. 2020. Photo by Mustafa Ramadan

On Monday afternoon, 23 November 2020, Yusef Mar’i (25) from Tell was driving towards the Huwarah intersection on his way to Ramallah. With him were his friend Mustafa Ramadan (44) in the passenger seat and another friend in the backseat. When the car was about 500 meters from the intersection, settlers got out of three vehicles parked by the roadside, started stoning the car and tried to assault the passengers. They smashed the windshield, a headlight and the window on the driver’s side. One of the stones hit Mar’i in the shoulder.

Mar’i managed to drive on for about 50 meters and then stopped, and Ramadan replaced him at the wheel. They continued towards the Huwarah intersection, where they saw police officers dealing with a car accident. Mar’i told the officers what had happened, and they asked paramedics there to treat Mar’I’s shoulder. Then a Red Crescent ambulance took him to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus. The friend who was sitting in the backseat went with him. The police officers suggested that Mustafa Ramadan, who stayed in the car, file a complaint at the Ariel police station, but he saw no point in doing so.

Meanwhile, the assailants also arrived at the scene of the accident and started throwing stones at Palestinian cars waiting in the traffic jam. Soldiers arrived and held them back.

Ramadan went to Rafidia Hospital and joined his friends. After they were checked and given first aid, the three went home. Repairing the damaged car cost 1,200 shekels (~375 USD).

In a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’i, Yusef Mar’i described the attack:

I was driving to Ramallah with two friends. When we neared the Huwarah intersection, I saw three or four cars with Israeli license plates parked on the left side of the road. When we were about 15 or 20 meters from them, a kid who looked 15 at most suddenly emerged between them with a stone in each hand. He threw the stones at our car and came round in front of it.

I was driving slowly, no more than 50 kilometers an hour, but had to stop so I wouldn’t run him over. Then, more than 15 settlers got out of the other cars and started throwing stones at us. One stone hit the windshield and cracked it, and another shattered my window and hit me in the shoulder.

I tried to reverse the car, but another settler’s car stopped behind me and four or five settlers got out. I tried to get out to defend myself, but one of the settlers slammed the door shut, grabbed me by the neck through the window and started shoving me. Other settlers tried to open the back door.

I felt dizzy. I could barely take it. They were acting like wild animals. I felt we’d fallen into a trap. They were screaming and swearing and ordered us, in Hebrew and Arabic, to get out of the car.

I barely managed to restart the car. I drove quickly and the settlers drew back a little. After driving for several hundred meters, I stopped again because I couldn’t drive anymore. I asked Mustafa to take the wheel. Meanwhile, the settlers started running towards us.

Mustafa Ramadan, a father of two from Tell, described what happened after he started driving:

I drove on for about 200 meters and when we neared the Yitzhar/Huwarah square, we saw two Israeli cars that had been in an accident. There were a police car and an ambulance there.

I drove up to them and told an officer that settlers had attacked us and that one of us was injured. He motioned us to stop and called one of the paramedics over. The paramedic tried to calm Yusef down. He was exhausted and had cramps in the left side of his body, his arm and his leg. I was worried about him. Then a Red Crescent ambulance came and took him to hospital.

Meanwhile, the settlers arrived and started throwing stones at Palestinian cars that had stopped because of the accident. They did it in front of police officers and soldiers, and hit several cars.

I stayed in the car until the settlers moved away. The officers asked my friend and me for our details and took down our account of what happened. They asked the three of us to go to the Ariel police station to file a complaint, but we didn’t because we saw no point.

I went to hospital to check on my friends, and later we all went home. A few days later, I took the car to be repaired. It cost us 1,200 shekels: the windshield, the window on the driver’s side, a headlight and paint and shield repairs where the stones left marks.

Damage to property (nonagricultural)
Physical assault
Verbal confrontations and threats

Settler Violence = State Violence

April 2023

March 2023

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