Violence against Palestinians is growing in the West Bank in the shadow of the Iran-Iraq War

JerusalemThe Bani Odeh family was driving through the streets of Tammun, in the northern West Bank, in the early hours of March 15. They were returning home after breaking their Ramadan fast when their journey turned into tragedy as Israeli forces opened fire on their vehicle. According to the account of one of the two surviving children, an eleven-year-old boy, the soldiers attacked them while shouting, "We've killed dogs." When the shooting stopped, his mother, father, and two brothers, ages five and seven, were dead.

This is not an isolated incident. It is the latest example of the sustained increase in violence suffered by the Palestinian population in the West Bank since the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran on February 28. According to data from the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, at least thirteen Palestinians have died in the last two weeks. Eight were killed by the Israeli army and five by settlers.

“What we are seeing is an escalation of violence based on systematic policies implemented years ago,” Xavier Abu Eid, a political analyst and former spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization, explained to ARA. “There are two key factors: the lack of international attention to Palestine and the internal Israeli political context, with elections this year and a campaign focused on jobs. What we have now is a new Nakba,” he added, referring to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes with the creation of the State.

According to Israeli researcher Aviv Tatarsky of the NGO Ir Amim, this situation is not accidental. "Israel is taking advantage of the lack of international attention to consolidate its control over large areas of the West Bank," he states. He describes it as a two-pronged strategy: the army blockades villages, demolishes houses, uproots olive trees, and prevents access to agricultural land, while settlers attack entire communities, burning vehicles and homes.

Local testimonies also describe how settlers deliberately graze livestock on cultivated fields, destroy crops and food stores, steal cattle, and vandalize solar panels and water tanks. Some even threaten residents at their doorsteps with sticks, pistols, and assault rifles. The Israeli organization Yesh Din has documented at least 109 incidents involving settlers in more than 62 Palestinian communities since the start of the conflict with Iran.

800 settler militias

In this context, the distinction between settler violence and state violence becomes blurred. "It's an artificial separation," says Israeli analyst and former advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (1995-2001), Daniel Levy. "The settlers exist, operate, and are armed thanks to state support. In many ways, they function as a paramilitary militia," he explains. Abu Eid shares this view: "They not only act with impunity, but they also implement..." de facto government policies. They are not officially part of the state, but they are armed by the state. There are about 800 settler militias in that situation."

Several Palestinian and Israeli organizations assert that close collaboration exists between settlers and the army, with soldiers often failing to intervene to protect the Palestinian population and attackers wearing military uniforms or belonging to reserve units from the settlements. Israel denies this involvement and maintains that it always investigates cases of aggression.

B'Tselem puts it bluntly: in the shadow of the war with Iran, settler militias have intensified their use of live fire and expanded their attacks to larger population centers. While these incidents previously targeted small, isolated communities, they now extend to densely populated areas under Palestinian administrative control. According to the organization, this reflects an intensification of a process of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing.

“This is the worst period I’ve seen in the West Bank in over 20 years,” says Dror Etkes, an Israeli analyst and founder of Kerem Navot, an NGO that denounces land dispossession in the West Bank. “There’s a sense that anything goes: killing, stealing, threatening, or assaulting Palestinians, without consequences.” This impunity is reflected in the judicial system: less than 1% of reported cases between 2016 and 2024 resulted in formal charges.

All of this is part of a broader trend. Since Hamas's attacks on October 7, 2023, and the offensive in Gaza, violence in the West Bank has surged. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 200 children, and at least 45 communities have been forced to flee their homes, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.