The UN human rights office on Wednesday warned of worsening violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, and urged international action against the killing of Palestinians as well as the creation of settlements, which it said had reached an all-time high.
According to United Nations figures, 18 Palestinians have been killed in incidents linked to settler attacks so far this year, compared with 17 in the whole of 2025. The Palestinian Authority says at least 20 Palestinians have been killed by settlers since the start of the year.
Last Friday, four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers — one of whom acted as a security coordinator for a nearby Israeli settlement — were killed when a crowd of Israeli settlers, some armed, approached the Palestinian village of Tal, southwest of Nablus.
“Settlers and Israeli security forces, often acting together, have attacked local communities, assaulting families, destroying and confiscating property, and burning mosques,” Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement.
The UN human rights office said settler violence and actions tantamount to ongoing annexation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank had worsened in the two years since a ruling at the International Court of Justice in July 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and settlements there were illegal and should be withdrawn. Israel at the time rejected the finding as “fundamentally wrong” and one-sided.
