The United Nations documents a similar pattern, as the area of Hawwara south of Yatta witnessed attacks last July in which 37 Palestinians, including children and women, were injured, and hundreds of olive trees were damaged, before the area was declared a closed military zone and farmers were removed from their lands, and the harvest season saw the arrest of four international activists in the area of Qamain after the area was declared a closed military zone.
The figures reveal the extent of the escalation, as since the beginning of the year until the end of July, the United Nations documented more than 1380 incidents related to settler crimes, at an average of 6.6 incidents per day, affecting more than 250 Palestinian communities, while about 900 Palestinians were injured and more than 2300 people were displaced as a result of the attacks and access restrictions, and by the end of August, the number rose to more than 1600 attacks in 275 communities, at an average of 6.7 attacks per day, compared to five attacks per day in 2025 and 1.5 in 2021.
During the past month, the Palestinian Committee for the Resistance of the Wall and Settlements documented 2051 attacks by the occupation forces and settlers, including 647 attacks by settlers, which damaged 14600 trees, including 9334 olive trees, and the number of settler attacks since the beginning of the year reached 5561 attacks, which led to the martyrdom of 30 Palestinians until the second of this month, according to official Palestinian data.
These data reveal a multi-level targeting of humans, land, and sources of livelihood, through uprooting olives, burning fields, stealing crops, destroying property, and killing animals, which undermines the economic foundations of Palestinian existence, while preventing farmers from accessing their land disrupts production and weakens the ability of families to invest their land.
In response to these crimes, the European Union imposed sanctions on four entities and three individuals linked to settlement activity on May 28, 2026, including "Nehala," "Regavim," "Hishomer Yash," and the "Amana" association, while Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and Ireland took trade measures against settlement products, in a path that shifts international engagement from documentation to tools targeting some networks of funding, support, and trade.
These events reveal that settler crimes in the West Bank are becoming more dangerous with the complicity of the Israeli occupation army, through field protection and restrictions imposed on Palestinians and preventing them from accessing their lands and sources of livelihood. With the repeated uprooting of trees, burning of property, stealing of crops, and attacks on farmers, the factors of tension accumulate and the possibilities of an explosion in the West Bank rise, threatening security and political stability and opening new paths for escalation in the region.
The continuation of these crimes with the absence of accountability enhances impunity and deepens the state of tension, making international protection for Palestinians, the application of international law, and holding those responsible for the crimes committed an urgent necessity, and without this, stability in the West Bank and the region cannot be achieved.
