Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian warehouse and land as West Bank attacks surge

Dozens of Israeli settlers launched arson attacks targeting a Palestinian warehouse, a Bedouin village, and farmland in the north of the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.

Several Palestinians were injured.

The incidents were the latest in a recent surge in settler violence coinciding with the olive harvest season, when Palestinians head to their agricultural land around towns and villages.

It comes just after the UN's humanitarian office said the number of violent attacks by settlers last month was the highest since it began collecting figures nearly 20 years ago.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state - during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

The settlements are illegal under international law.

Footage from Tuesday shows dozens of masked men on a hillside east of Tulkarm. A Palestinian warehouse in Beit Lid was attacked, with lorries set on fire.

Tents can be seen ablaze in the Bedouin village of Deir Sharaf, with the sound of women shouting in the background.

Palestinian Authority Minister Muayyad Shaaban, the head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, said the attacks were part of a campaign to impose "a hostile environment through intimidation and terror".

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that troops went to the scene "to disperse the confrontation using riot dispersal means and apprehended several Israeli civilians". It added that soldiers were then attacked by settlers gathering nearby and their vehicle was damaged.

Israeli police stated that four suspects were arrested.

In a post on X, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the latest events "shocking and serious", blaming "a handful of violent and dangerous individuals".

He went on: "Such violence against civilians and against IDF soldiers crosses a red line and I condemn it severely."

The head of the IDF Central Command, Major-General Avi Bluth, also condemned the attacks, saying that such incidents "undermine the stability of the security situation".

"The reality in which anarchist fringe youth act violently against innocent civilians and against security forces is unacceptable and is extremely serious. It must be dealt with firmly," he told officers, in comments sent by the Israeli military.

"The directive to IDF soldiers is clear: do not stand idly by and do everything in your power to prevent any act of nationalist crime."

The large-scale attack on Tuesday was a rare instance of Israeli law enforcement acting to counter settler violence, which has increased dramatically since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 triggered the Gaza war.

Israeli rights group Yesh Din said that of 1,701 police investigations into offenses committed by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank (not including East Jerusalem) between 2005 and 2024, 93.8% of concluded cases closed with no indictment filed.

In the nearby village of Burin, settlers attacked Palestinian olive harvesters and an off-duty IDF reservist helping them. Settlers also stole bags of olives.

In a statement, the IDF said: "Several Israeli civilians threw stones at the harvesters. Several Israelis and Palestinians were injured and evacuated for medical treatment." It added that its soldiers "operated to disperse the confrontation".

The olive harvest is a major annual event for Palestinians and an important source of income for many.

According to the Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now, the number of new homes in West Bank settlements for which tenders have been published in 2025 has already reached an all-time yearly high of 5,667 housing units. It says these are set to accommodate about 25,000 residents.

The pro-settler Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has prioritised speeding up the planning and approval process for new settler housing, as well as land appropriation for settlement construction and infrastructure, and retroactively legalising outposts set up without Israeli government authorisation.

As well as serving as finance minister, Smotrich has a ministerial position with responsibility for civilian affairs in the West Bank. He has declared that his efforts are designed to de facto annex the West Bank and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.