Israeli settler violence surges against Palestinians

Violence against Palestinians by illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has escalated sharply in July. Palestinian officials said Israeli settlers set fire to two mosques in the occupied West Bank overnight Sunday, July 26,, after deadly clashes in the territory left six people dead this week.

UN data shows settler attacks now account for 55 percent of Palestinian injuries in the territory this year, with incidents rising from one every three days in 2020 to more than three a day in 2026. About 569 Palestinians have been injured by settlers so far this year, compared with 832 in all of 2025, 362 in 2024 and 376 in 2023, per UN figures cited by

More than 1,000 Palestinian children have been displaced by Israeli settler violence in the first half of 2026, including 685 in the first quarter alone, versus an average of 63 in that period over the prior three years. A 14-year-old was shot dead by a settler near a school outside Ramallah. Seventy percent of displaced households cited threats of violence against women and children as their reason for leaving.

The violence peaked July 24, when settler attacks on al-Tal village near Nablus killed four Palestinians and two Israelis, triggering reprisal attacks and prompting Israel to deploy five additional battalions to the West Bank. Humanitarian groups have flagged state-backed settler security squads, formed after October 7, 2023, for blurring the line between settlers and soldiers.

Nine people were arrested at a Tel Aviv protest against the violence on Saturday. U.S. sanctions on extremist settler groups, imposed under Biden, were rescinded in January 2025, a reversal Democratic lawmakers say fueled the subsequent surge.

The UN says it condemns all killings of civilians, stressing that civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected under international humanitarian law. Separately, China has accused Israel at the UN Security Council of violating international law through illegal settlements, settler violence and restrictions on humanitarian access, and has called for a two-state solution.

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