Settler attacks on Palestinians in West Bank hit all-time high in October — UN

Humanitarian office reports 264 violent incidents last month, averaging eight a day; also says roughly 15% of the over 9,600 attacks it has recorded since 2006 occurred this year

By Agencies and ToI Staff 8 November 2025, 6:01 am

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Israeli soldiers and an armored vehicle deploy as Palestinians and first responders try to extinguish a burning car set ablaze during an Israeli settler attack in Beita, south of Nablus, on October 10, 2025, amid the annual olive harvest. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh / AFP)

Israeli settlers carried out at least 264 attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank during October, marking the biggest monthly total since United Nations officials began tracking such incidents in 2006, the UN said on Friday.

In a statement warning against the sharp rise in violence, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the attacks, which resulted in casualties and property damage, amounted to an average of eight incidents per day.

“Since 2006, OCHA has documented over 9,600 such attacks. About 1,500 of them took place just this year, roughly 15 per cent of the total,” the UN body said in a statement.

Home to 2.7 million Palestinians, the West Bank has long been at the heart of plans for a future Palestinian state existing alongside Israel. Over half a million Israeli settlers live in the territory. The United Nations, Palestinians and most countries regard settlements as illegal under international law, which Israel disputes.

The UN agency also said that according to OCHA-confirmed data as of Wednesday, 42 Palestinian children had been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank so far this year.

“That means one in every five Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank in 2025 has been a child,” OCHA said.

Israel’s Mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Masked settlers filmed during an attack on the Palestinian village of Qawawis in the southern West Bank on August 26, 2025. (Screen capture/X)

Violence against Palestinians often rises during olive-picking season, which began in early October. There have been a string of attacks by settlers and soldiers on olive pickers, who sometimes include Israeli, Jewish and other volunteers from abroad.

The latest attacks have been met with little to no police enforcement against perpetrators, and come amid a larger spike in settler violence since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the Gaza war.