Settlers filmed looting West Bank home as IDF nabs Palestinian allegedly planning attack

Several incidents of settler violence were reported across the West Bank on Wednesday, and the Israel Defense Forces said Israeli forces apprehended a woman allegedly planning a stabbing attack.

In one incident, footage aired by Arabic media showed Israeli settlers appearing to steal belongings from a Palestinian home in the southern West Bank.

An apparent settler can be seen grabbing belongings from a Palestinian home in Masafer Yatta and loading them onto an ATV, which looks identical to the ones the government gifted to residents of illegal Israeli outposts last year.

The clip then shows the settlers driving off in the ATV.

WAFA, the official Palestinian Authority news agency, reported that armed settlers in the area also chased Palestinian shepherds and attempted to steal their flock.

According to the report, Israeli forces arrived at the scene and arrested one Palestinian who confronted the settler assailants.

لحظة قيام عدد من المستوطنين بسرقة ممتلكات من منزل فلسطيني في مسافر يطا جنوب الخليل بالضفة الغربية#فيديو pic.twitter.com/hEMkkYvBes

— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) August 26, 2026

There were no reports of any arrests of settlers in the incident.

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.

The violence and harassment faced by residents of Masafer Yatta was the subject of the Oscar-winning 2024 documentary “No Other Land.”

A separate instance of home invasion was reported by WAFA in the town of Deir Abu Da’if, east of Jenin. There, settlers were said to have broken into a Palestinian home under construction, smashing ceramic tiles and stealing water and electricity motors.

Additionally, WAFA reported that settlers damaged water supply lines serving Palestinians in the area of Ras Al-Ahmar, an agricultural community of hundreds of fieldworkers.

Settlers also reportedly stole water from the main supply line serving the West Bank village of al-Mughayyir, allegedly siphoning it off to a nearby outpost.

Settler violence has surged in recent months, with daily attacks and harassment. Prosecutions are rare, and critics accuse the IDF and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of condoning or even encouraging the violence.

The most senior IDF officer in the West Bank reportedly warned during a closed-door security assessment on Monday that mounting settler violence could ignite a broader escalation in the territory.

Meanwhile, the IDF said Wednesday that troops detained a Palestinian woman who allegedly planned a stabbing attack near Nablus.

The military said troops caught the woman at a junction near the settlement of Shavei Shomron, after receiving intelligence from the Shin Bet indicating that she planned an attack.

The woman was found to be armed with a knife and was handed over to the Shin Bet for questioning, the army added.