(Photo by Anadolu)
RAMALLAH – Thirty Palestinians have been killed in attacks by Israeli settlers across the occupied West Bank since the start of 2026, according to figures released Friday by the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.
The commission said the death toll had reached 30 as of Oct. 2, already exceeding the annual total recorded in any year since 2022. It added that the 2026 figure is more than double the total for all of 2025, representing an increase of about 114 percent.
The commission described the figures as a “dangerous escalation” in the deadly impact of settler attacks.
Most of the deaths were recorded in Ramallah and Al-Bireh and Nablus. The commission said 15 Palestinians were killed in Ramallah and Al-Bireh and seven in Nablus, accounting for about 73 percent of the total.
Three Palestinians were killed in Hebron, two each in Jerusalem and Salfit, and one in Qalqilya.
In September alone, the commission said Israeli forces and settlers carried out 2,051 attacks against Palestinians and their land and property across the West Bank. Settlers were responsible for 647 of those incidents, during which three Palestinians were killed.
From January through the end of September, the commission recorded 5,561 settler attacks.
It also said 14,600 trees were damaged in September, including 9,334 olive trees.
Israeli authorities demolished 254 Palestinian structures during the month, including 89 inhabited homes, directly affecting 320 Palestinians, among them 164 children and 64 women.
The commission also reported that settlers attempted to establish 21 new outposts across the West Bank in September, while Israeli authorities advanced 16 plans involving 3,821 settlement housing units.
Around 6,635 dunams, or roughly 1,640 acres, of Palestinian land have been seized since the start of the year, the commission said.
Official Palestinian figures estimate that about 750,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, across 194 settlements and around 400 outposts.
In June, 14 United Nations special rapporteurs warned that the rise in settler violence, along with what they described as support and complicity by Israeli authorities, posed a serious threat to Palestinian communities.
