A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), released Thursday (August 14), says dozens of Palestinian communities in the West Bank are at risk of being wiped out due to escalating settler attacks and the rapid expansion of settlements that are illegal under international law.
The report accuses Israeli authorities of arming, funding, and granting impunity to settlers to carry out attacks against Palestinians. Settler violence has increased since Israel’s current government took office in December 2022, and particularly escalated during the first two months of the US-Israel war with Iran, with killings, including of children, assaults, sexual violence, physical and psychological abuse, arbitrary detention, arson, property destruction, and theft.
Sarah Sanbar, HRW’s researcher for Israel and Palestine, said: “The Israeli government and the settlers share the same goal of maximizing land and minimizing Palestinians. The authorities haven’t just failed to stop settler violence—they’ve actively facilitated it. Settlers shoot, attack, and expel Palestinians from their land, and the state provides the weapons, legal cover, and budget to do so.”
HRW investigated settler attacks in seven Palestinian communities in the West Bank in April and May, including Al-Mughayyir, Mikhmas, and Taybeh in Ramallah governorate; Jalud and Qaryut in Nablus governorate; and Khirbet Hamsa and Muarrajat East in the Jordan Valley. The report found that in many cases, armed settlers acted alongside Israeli military units, or with soldiers standing by without intervening, in raids on Palestinians and their property, contributing to forced displacement.
Citing research by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), HRW said the number of Palestinians forcibly displaced due to settler attacks, home demolitions, and evictions in the first four months of this year surpassed the total for all of 2025. Since January 2023, 107 communities with about 5,900 Palestinians have been fully or partially displaced due to settler violence. Additionally, Israeli forces have expelled about 32,000 Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank since January 2025, essentially emptying the Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams camps.
The HRW report recommends imposing targeted sanctions on individuals involved in ongoing abuses, suspending arms transfers to Israel, banning trade with illegal settlements, and urging states to consider suspending preferential trade agreements with Israel.
“The impunity Israeli authorities give settlers stems directly from the free hand Israel’s allies and sponsors grant it,” Sanbar said. “Israel and the governments that hand it a blank check share responsibility and should face accountability.”
