While many Israelis are taking shelter from missile and drone attacks, armed settlers in the West Bank are taking advantage of the fog of war to seize land and advance Israel’s ongoing dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
On a daily basis, settlers are invading Palestinian communities, firing live ammunition, setting homes and cars on fire, and attacking families in their homes. Over the past 11 days, armed settlers—three in uniform—have reportedly shot and killed five Palestinians in the West Bank; a sixth reportedly died from cardiac arrest after inhaling tear gas fired by the Israeli army. These events put 2026 on track to surpass 2025, a year that saw Israeli settler violence reaching a two-decade high with armed settlers killing nine Palestinians.
The Israeli military said the recent incidents were under investigation.
At the end of 2025, Israeli NGO Yesh Din said that of the hundreds of settler violence cases it documented since October 2023, only three percent resulted in convictions. By providing settlers with weapons and failing to hold them accountable for criminal acts, the Israeli government abets and enables settler violence.
The Israeli government also emboldens settlers by approving and funding the growth of illegal settlements. Last August, Israel formalized plans to develop the illegal E1 settlement project, long declared a “red line” by the international community, and published a tender for 3,401 housing units last December. If completed, the project will fully separate the southern part of the West Bank from its northern part. Construction tenders will be awarded to bidders on March 16.
The International Court of Justice in July 2024 ruled that Israel’s 59-year occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful and that Israeli authorities are responsible for apartheid. The court ordered Israel to evacuate all settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes and provide compensation for Palestinians. But in the shadow of war, the opposite is underway.
States should act to prevent further atrocities across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including by imposing targeted sanctions on those implicated in ongoing grave abuses, suspending arms transfers to Israel, banning trade with illegal settlements, suspending preferential trade agreements with Israel, and supporting the International Criminal Court and its ongoing investigations, including by executing its arrest warrants. Failing to act now will have grave consequences for Palestinians’ future.
