A United Nations commission has reported a sharp rise in settler violence across the occupied West Bank, including East occupied al-Quds, stating that attacks increased by 130% in 2025 compared to the previous year.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory said Palestinian civilians are facing systematic and deliberate violations of international human rights law carried out by Israeli occupation forces and settlers.

According to the report, at least seven Palestinians were killed and 832 others injured in settler attacks in 2025, with the crimes continuing into 2026 through near-daily attacks.

Srinivasan Muralidhar, head of the commission, said settler violence is a direct result of Israeli policies that support, enable, and protect their actions, adding that Israeli authorities have for decades provided “impunity” for such acts through judicial and security structures.

“The increasing participation of Israeli security forces in settler attacks amounts to a de facto collapse of the distinction between settlers and soldiers,” the report also found.

Cultivating a fear of existing in public

The report also documented assaults against Palestinian children, including cases of abduction and mistreatment during everyday activities such as going to school, playing, or working in agricultural areas.

It further cited threats and incidents of sexual violence aimed at intimidation, warning that harassment of Palestinian women and girls restricts movement and access to public spaces, including schools and workplaces.

The commission concluded that settler violence in the West Bank functions as a tool of government policy, with both Israeli authorities and settler groups advancing shared strategic goals, including entrenching settlements, advancing annexation, sustaining the occupation, and displacing Palestinians from their land.

More than 1,600 attacks in a single month

The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC) announced on Saturday that Israeli occupation forces and settlers carried out 1,659 attacks across the occupied West Bank during May alone.

According to the commission, settlers were responsible for 551 of those attacks, while Israeli occupation authorities continued to advance policies of demolition, land grabs, and settlement expansion throughout the occupied territory.

The commission's figures come amid ongoing Israeli military raids across several areas of the West Bank, particularly in the northern governorates of Jenin and Tulkarm, where repeated incursions, arrests, and destruction of infrastructure have displaced Palestinian families and deepened humanitarian concerns.

Palestinian officials warned that attacks by settlers and occupation forces continue to intensify across the West Bank, including acts of vandalism, theft, assaults on residents and the targeting of Palestinian vehicles and property. They warned that the scale and frequency of such attacks have increased significantly in recent months as settlement activity continues to expand across occupied Palestinian land, forcing growing numbers of Palestinians from their communities and threatening the viability of their continued presence on the land.

Source:Websites