Israeli settler violence in West Bank rose 25 percent, military finds
Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank rose by 25 percent in 2025, according to data released by the Israeli military.
The figures, reported by Haaretz on Monday, show that last year there were 845 incidents of violence committed by settlers towards Palestinians, killing four and wounding 200.
That was a rise by a quarter on the previous year, when 675 cases of settler violence were recorded, killing six Palestinians and wounding 149 others.
According to Haaretz, the increase has led to Israeli commanders casting doubt on the Israeli police’s ability to handle the situation. The military warned that more settler attacks could require the army to divert large numbers of troops and reservists to the West Bank.
The Palestinian city that saw the most Israeli settler violence in 2025 was Nablus, where a third of incidents were concentrated. That was followed by Hebron and Ramallah, with each having 19 percent of incidents.
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The Israeli army said, according to Haaretz, that the increase was not just due to individuals, but because of large and organised groups receiving support from politicians and prominent right-wing figures.
The military found a direct link between the settler attacks and an acceleration in the expansion of illegal Israeli farms being built on Palestinian land in the West Bank. It said that violent youths living on these farms were leading the attacks.
Since 7 October 2023, 90 new farms have been established in the West Bank, bring the total number of such farms to 120.
“Anyone who ignores the establishment of almost 100 new farms since the beginning of the war should not be surprised by the rise in incidents of nationalist friction and crime,” a senior Israeli defence official said.
Ex-Israeli PM says government enabling violence
Earlier this month, Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister, accused the Israeli government of actively enabling "murderous" settler violence in the West Bank.
"There's no other way of defining what's happening in the territories except as a violent, murderous war," Olmert said, adding that attacks against Palestinians were "designed to lead gradually to ethnic cleansing and mass expulsion".
Settler attacks have risen sharply since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza, with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recording more than 260 settler attacks in October - the highest monthly total since monitoring began in 2006.
UN figures also indicate that more than 3,200 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced as a result of settler violence since then.
Olmert - who himself approved illegal settlement expansion between 2006 and 2009 while serving as prime minister - said armed settler groups operated with near-total impunity, often in full view of Israeli security forces.
"The fact that in the vast majority of cases the rioters aren't detained is no coincidence," he said. "I would claim - with full responsibility - that this is the government's policy."
He pointed to the decision to halt the use of administrative detention against Jewish suspects as a turning point that signalled impunity and emboldened armed groups in the West Bank.
Olmert added that this had created a "comprehensive, coordinated and well-financed campaign" of settler violence, supported by political leaders and local authorities.
"This isn't the 'hilltop youth' or a small group of delinquents who are violating the rules of proper conduct - it's a military, terrorist, violent militia that murders, torches, beats, shoots, and in a systematic, planned and organised manner destroys everything in the territories that isn't Jewish," he said.
His comments came days after Netanyahu claimed that only "a handful of kids" were responsible for the violence and that his government was addressing the rise in attacks.
"When they're talking about it, they're talking about a handful of kids," Netanyahu said, referring to media coverage of the violence.
"We actually located it. It's about 70 kids. They're not from the West Bank. They're actually… teenagers who come from broken homes, and they do things like chopping olive trees, and sometimes they try to burn a home."
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