Settler Terrorism Displaces 107 Palestinian Villages
Washington, London, Paris, Berlin – Agencies: The escalation of attacks by Israeli settler militias in the occupied West Bank has led to the complete or partial displacement of 107 towns and villages since January 2023, alongside unprecedented expansion of settlements, according to a detailed report published yesterday by Human Rights Watch.
According to the report, the settlers responsible for the attacks operate with financial, material, and legal support from the Israeli occupation authorities. Often, armed attackers carry out their assaults alongside units of the Israeli army or in the presence of soldiers who stand by with hands tied. The report called on countries to “impose targeted sanctions on those involved in the ongoing serious violations” and urged the international community to “suspend arms transfers to Israel, ban trade with illegal settlements, and consider suspending preferential trade agreements with Israel.”
Human Rights Watch stated that settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are increasingly leading to the forced displacement of residents of Palestinian towns and villages, dozens of which face the risk of erasure. The report noted that Israeli authorities arm the violent settlers responsible for these escalating bloody violations, fund them, and grant them impunity.
According to the report, settler violence escalated in March and April 2026, involving killings, including of children, assaults, sexual violence, physical and psychological abuse, arbitrary detention, deliberate arson, destruction of property, and theft. These attacks occurred during the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran, but this escalating trend was evident since the current government took office in December 2022, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the report quoted Sarah Sunberg, acting Israel/Palestine researcher at Human Rights Watch, as saying that “the Israeli government and the settlers share the same goal: as much land as possible with as few Palestinians as possible. The authorities not only fail to stop settler violence, but actively enable it.” She added that “settlers shoot at, attack, and expel Palestinians from their land, while the state provides the weapons, legal cover, and necessary budget for this.”
In a related development, Britain announced it had summoned the Israeli chargé d’affaires and demanded the halt of a major settlement project in the occupied West Bank, after Israeli authorities launched a tender to build more than 1,200 settlement units in the area. Israel gave the green light last August to the “E1” settlement project, which spans approximately 12 square kilometers in the occupied West Bank, sparking international condemnation. The project would further isolate occupied and annexed East Jerusalem, which is home to the majority of Palestinians, from the rest of the West Bank.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband described this move as “an unacceptable and destructive act,” warning that it would “jeopardize the prospects of implementing a two-state solution.”
In a related development, Germany, France, and the United Nations condemned statements by Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in which he called for killing dozens of people daily in Gaza. UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, described Ben-Gvir’s remarks as “horrific, shameful, and dangerous, stripping Palestinians of their humanity,” adding, “We condemn them unequivocally.”
For his part, German government spokesperson Sebastian Hell said Chancellor Friedrich Merz “strongly condemns the inhumane calls made by Minister Ben-Gvir, which violate international law,” adding, “They are unacceptable.”
For his part, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, in an interview with the French newspaper *La Montagne*, described the statements as “unacceptable and inhumane.”
