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UN: Palestinian farmers in West Bank endure 'highest' settler violence in five years

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 01 November 2025 9:37 AM

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the olive harvest season in the occupied West Bank has been marred by the most intense wave of settler attacks against Palestinians and their property in five years.

In a statement released on Thursday, OCHA confirmed that 126 settler attacks targeted 70 Palestinian villages and communities in the West Bank, destroying more than 4,000 olive trees and saplings, the highest number of incidents since 2021.

The statement also highlighted that settlers from newly established illegal Israeli settlements have restricted access to olive groves in numerous areas across the occupied West Bank, effectively depriving farmers of their livelihoods.

OCHA further reported that 60 attacks against Palestinian civilians have occurred since the start of this harvest season, leaving 17 people injured and causing damage to 19 vehicles just in the past week.

Ajith Sunghay, the head of the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) in the Occupied Territories, condemned the escalation, saying on October 21: "Settler violence has skyrocketed in scale and frequency, with the acquiescence, support, and in many cases participation, of Israeli armed forces, and always with impunity."

"Two weeks into the start of the 2025 harvest, we have already seen severe attacks by armed settlers against Palestinian men, women, children, and foreign solidarity activists," he added.

In the first half of 2025 alone, there were 757 settler attacks resulting in casualties or property damage, a 13% rise compared with the same period last year, Sunghay said.

The destruction of Palestinian land has also intensified as settlers have set fire to groves, cut down olive trees with chainsaws, and devastated homes and agricultural infrastructure, he noted.

Sunghay warned that this surge in settler violence is taking place "against the backdrop of an accelerated Israeli land grab," with officials "openly declaring their intent to [occupy] the whole of the West Bank."

OHCHR data indicate that in 2023 alone, 96,000 dunums (around 9,600 hectares) of olive groves were left unharvested due to settler violence, causing over $10 million in losses for Palestinian farmers. This trend has continued through 2024 and 2025, steadily worsening.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal assault on Gaza, killing at least 68,000 Palestinians and wounding 170,000 others, Israeli settler and military attacks have claimed over 1,000 Palestinian lives and injured more than 10,000 in the Occupied West Bank.