Mapping 1,800 Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank since October 2023 

Earlier this week, in a recurring pattern of violence, dozens of Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli soldiers, set fire to several vehicles and properties, injuring at least 21 Palestinians.

As global attention focused on the brutal Israeli military offensive in Gaza, settler attacks as well as deadly raids by Israeli forces intensified in the occupied West Bank in the past 15 months.

From October 7, 2023 to December 31, 2024, at least 1,860 incidents of settler violence in the occupied West Bank were recorded – an average of four a day according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

With 411 incidents, the Nablus governorate saw the highest number of settler attacks, followed by 410 incidents in Ramallah and 362 in Hebron.

Who are Israeli settlers?

Settlers are Israeli citizens living in Jewish-only communities, known as Israeli settlements, built on Palestinian-owned land that Israel occupied in 1967.

Benjamin Netanyahu – Israel’s longest-serving prime minister – has bolstered settlement expansions since he first came to power in 1996, undermining the 1993 Oslo Accords, which called for the freezing of settlements and a mutually negotiated two-state solution.

Today, roughly 10 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, totalling between 600,000 and 750,000 people, live in about 250 settlements and outposts dispersed throughout the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Many of these settlements are located near Palestinian population centres, often leading to increased tensions and restrictions on movement for Palestinians.

Israeli settlements are illegal under international law as they violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bans an occupying power from transferring its population to the area it occupies. This is for a variety of reasons, including protecting civilians from the theft of resources by the occupying power and to prevent changes in the demographic makeup of the occupied territory.

Trump lifts sanctions on violent settlers

One of Donald Trump’s first actions as president was to lift sanctions targeting numerous far-right settler organisations and individuals involved in violent actions against Palestinians, including arson, property damage and assaults on civilians.

These sanctions were imposed by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, via an executive order in February 2024.

During his first term, Trump championed many of Israel’s key policies, including recognising Jerusalem as its capital, supporting settlement expansion, cutting aid to Palestinians and brokering the Abraham Accords to normalise relations between Israel and several Arab countries, without Palestinian involvement.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Palestine expressed alarm at the “wave of renewed violence” by Israeli settlers and armed forces in the occupied West Bank.

At least 870 Palestinians killed

Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, at least 870 Palestinians, including 177 children, have been killed and more than 6,700 wounded in attacks by the Israeli army and settlers across the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

At least 13,500 Palestinians including children have been arrested and more than 2,100 structures demolished in the occupied West Bank leaving more than 6,700 people displaced.