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Dozens injured as Israeli army-backed settlers launch coordinated attacks across West Bank: Report

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 08 November 2025 9:13 PM

Dozens of Palestinians, foreign activists, and journalists have been wounded as Israeli army-backed settlers carried out coordinated assaults across the occupied West Bank.

The attacks took place on Saturday, with the biggest number of the casualties, namely 17 people, being caused after settlers raided the outskirts of the Abu Falah village, northeast of the city of Ramallah, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported. Those injured included foreign activists.

According to the agency, settlers also torched a home, while Israeli forces attacked the area, targeting the residents, who had gathered near the scene. The latter incident, though, did not lead to any casualties.

In another wave of violence, settlers launched attacks on Palestinian farmers, journalists, and foreign activists participating in the annual olive harvest across several towns, leaving many with fractures and bruises.

The attacks were most severe in Beita, south of Nablus, where settlers descended from nearby outposts and ambushed harvesters in the Qamas Mountain area, said Mohammad Hamayel, the town's deputy mayor.

Witnesses reported that the settlers, armed with sticks and stones, struck participants as they gathered olives from family groves.

Among those assaulted were foreign solidarity activists, paramedics, and journalists, including Reuters reporter Raneen Sawafta and two Al Jazeera correspondents.

Local Palestinian health officials confirmed that medics had treated 11 people.

The violence extended beyond Beita. In the nearby village of Burin, a Palestinian farmer and four international activists were injured when settlers attacked them, while they were picking olives east of the village, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Observers commenting on the attacks noted how the settlers had long been targeting those participating in the tradition that marks both livelihood and resistance

In Furush Beit Dajan, east of Nablus, settlers assaulted farmers and international volunteers working on village lands, though no injuries were reported, said Bedouin rights group Al-Baidar.

Meanwhile, in Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah, settlers cut down several olive trees.

Earlier the same morning, a Palestinian man was beaten and wounded by Israeli forces in the town of Yatta, south of the city of al-Khalil (Hebron), according to Wafa.

The United Nations has sounded the alarm over a dramatic escalation in violence by illegal settlers against Palestinians across the West Bank, warning that the scale of attacks has reached its highest level in nearly twenty years.

During a press briefing on Friday, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq cited data from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), describing "a sharp rise in settler violence against Palestinians, both in frequency and severity."

According to Haq, OCHA documented 264 settler attacks in October alone, resulting in casualties, property destruction, or both.

The UN official noted that this represented the highest monthly toll in almost two decades of record keeping, with the violence now averaging more than eight incidents every single day since 2006.