During the First Half of April: 35 Settler Attacks and Assaults on Palestinians in the West Bank
16 April 2025 – Union for Justice
Available data and information gathered by the Union for Justice indicate a continued and marked increase in settler attacks and assaults against Palestinian citizens and property in the West Bank. According to the Union for Justice, these near-daily and intensified attacks amounted to 35 incidents during the first half of April 2025.
In some cases, these attacks appear sporadic and individual; however, they are often carried out in a more organized manner, especially given that settlers have effectively taken on the character of a military formation affiliated with the Israeli army, receiving military training and carrying weapons openly.
Settler attacks vary and include direct assaults on Palestinians, opening fire on them, burning homes, vehicles, and public institutions, destroying property, stealing livestock and agricultural produce, razing land, building settler roads, and uprooting or damaging trees.
Reported incidents of poisoning or theft of livestock belonging to Palestinian farmers, particularly in the Jordan Valley, have caused a rise in prices in West Bank markets, notably for lamb meat. In addition to the direct financial losses suffered by these farmers, livestock breeding is often their sole source of livelihood.
These settler attacks occur with the full protection of the Israeli army on the ground, in addition to the political, financial, security, and judicial support settlers enjoy under the hardline right-wing Israeli government. At the beginning of this month, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz rejected categorizing settler attacks against Palestinian civilians as “terrorism.” Katz also boasted of his decision to cancel administrative detention orders against settlers accused of assaulting Palestinians, stating: “It is a good thing that I canceled the administrative detentions.”
By contrast, any Palestinian who attempts to defend themselves or their family against settler attacks is subject to arrest and prosecution by the Israeli army and the Shin Bet security agency.
Dispersed Attacks, One Objective
The Union for Justice believes that these settler assaults and attacks cannot be dismissed as isolated or random incidents; rather, they constitute a continuation of the Israeli government’s strategic plans and vision for the future of the West Bank. The ultimate aim is to create conditions that force Palestinians out of the area.
The Israeli government is working to complete annexation plans for the West Bank by fragmenting its territory with settlements and connecting roads, confining Palestinians to cantons and isolated enclaves, thus preventing any potential political entity that could evolve into the nucleus of a Palestinian state. These efforts also seek to engineer a demographic balance between Jews and Palestinians in the territories occupied in 1967.
By the end of 2024, the number of settlers in the occupied West Bank (including Jerusalem) had exceeded 77,000 individuals, residing in 180 settlements and 256 outposts, including 138 classified as pastoral or agricultural outposts.
Besides the assaults that settlers carry out against Palestinians in the West Bank, al-Aqsa Mosque is also
subjected to daily incursions (except on Fridays and Saturdays) by settler groups under Israeli police protection. These incursions aim to assert full control over the mosque and to divide it spatially and temporally. During these incursions, settlers engage in provocative Talmudic rituals, harassing Muslim worshippers in the mosque’s courtyards.
Detailed Report of Attacks (1–15 April 2025) as Documented by the Union for Justice
1 April 2025: Over 300 settlers carried out a large-scale attack on the village of Duma, south of Nablus, injuring three residents with live and rubber-coated bullets. They also set fire to two livestock barns and five vehicles belonging to local residents.
1 April 2025: Settlers attacked citizens with pepper spray at al-Auja Spring north of Jericho, where people were picnicking on the third day of Eid al-Fitr, resulting in injuries and varying degrees of burns to five individuals.
3 April 2025: Settlers established a new outpost near the Bedouin community of Hathrura in Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, including the placement of caravans and initial infrastructure work.
3 April 2025: Settlers attacked land belonging to Palestinian residents in the village of Marda, north of Salfit, cutting olive trees and removing fencing around them.
3 April 2025: Settlers began expansion and construction of new residential units in an outpost adjacent to the village of Bardala in the northern Jordan Valley.
4 April 2025: Settlers plowed Palestinian land in the town of Sinjil near Ramallah, indicating their intent to seize it. Notably, the landowners have been barred from accessing these lands since 7 October 2023, when Israeli authorities designated the area a military zone, even though it is only about 200 meters away from local homes.
4 April 2025: Dozens of settlers attacked the western area of Beit Furik, east of Nablus, but were confronted by local residents.
4 April 2025: Under Israeli army protection, settlers attacked shepherds in the wilderness area of al-Maniyya, east of Bethlehem, attempting to seize around 200 sheep belonging to citizen ‘Awni Shalalda. Local residents prevented the confiscation of the livestock.
4 April 2025: Settlers attacked at dawn the home of citizen Muhammad Dhamen ‘Abdu in the village of Qira, north of Salfit, setting fire to his vehicle and writing racist slogans.
5 April 2025: Settlers threw stones at farmers and Palestinian vehicles near the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah. No injuries were reported.
5 April 2025: Settlers released their livestock to graze on Palestinian crops in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron, an area that repeatedly suffers incidents of settler violence such as well-poisoning and livestock theft.
5 April 2025: Settlers opened fire on farmer Muhammad Faraj while he was working on his land in the village of Talfit, south of Nablus, forcing him to leave.
6 April 2025: Settlers bulldozed internal roads in the village of Umm Safa, north of Ramallah, damaged water lines in the same area, and uprooted a number of young olive trees.
7 April 2025: Settlers from “Karmeil” placed caravans and pitched a tent on land belonging to residents of Umm Khair in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, in an apparent attempt to seize it.
7 April 2025: A settler ran over 14-year-old Ahmad ‘Awda on the main road in the town of Huwara, south of Nablus. The child was taken to the hospital, where his injuries were described as ranging from moderate to mild.
8 April 2025: Settlers attacked shepherds in the village of al-Maniyya, southeast of Bethlehem, using tear gas canisters and batons. Clashes broke out with local residents, who prevented settlers from seizing several head of sheep.
8 April 2025: Settlers set fire to a wedding hall located between the towns of Senniriya and Biddya, west of Salfit, in the early morning hours, and wrote racist, anti-Arab graffiti on its walls.
9 April 2025: Settlers bulldozed approximately 150 dunums of agricultural land belonging to the Sowais family in the Khillet al-Qotun area, south of Bethlehem.
10 April 2025: Settlers assaulted a number of residents and shepherds in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, causing injuries, bruises, and contusions.
12 April 2025: Settlers from “Brukhin” attacked the town of Kafr ad-Dik, west of Salfit, injuring local residents and damaging several vehicles.
13 April 2025: Settlers pelted homes in the Arab al-Malihat community, northwest of Jericho, with stones.
13 April 2025: Settlers assaulted residents in Khirbet al-Halawa in Masafer Yatta, injuring two girls, Majdoleen Hani Abu ‘Aram and Rahaf Mahmoud Abu ‘Aram. Both were taken to Yatta Governmental Hospital for treatment.
13 April 2025: Late at night, settlers broke into the ‘Ein al-Hilweh area of the northern Jordan Valley, attempting to steal livestock but were thwarted by local residents and international solidarity activists.
13 April 2025: Settlers attacked the outskirts of the town of Kobar, northwest of Ramallah, setting fire to one resident’s vehicle.
14 April 2025: Settlers attacked a resident who was herding cattle in the Jabaris area of the northern Jordan Valley, stealing two calves and killing a third by running it over.
14 April 2025: Settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles traveling near al-Auja Spring, north of Jericho.
14 April 2025: Settlers attacked Bedouin homes at the summit of a mountain in ad-Duyuk at-Tahta, west of Jericho, belonging to the Mahalees and Ka‘abneh families, by throwing stones. No injuries were reported.
14 April 2025: Hundreds of settlers, under heavy Israeli military protection, stormed the archaeological site in the village of Sebastia, northwest of Nablus, forcing local shop owners to close their businesses.
14 April 2025: Settlers from the “Leshem” settlement uprooted around 50 olive trees in the town of Deir Ballut, west of Salfit.
14 April 2025: Settlers bulldozed agricultural land belonging to citizen Sa‘id Raba‘ al-‘Amour in the ar-Rakiz area of Masafer Yatta, destroying stone walls, cutting several trees, and removing fencing around the property.
15 April 2025: Settlers attacked young Palestinian Samy Yasser Suleiman while he was herding sheep in Wadi Qelt, west of Jericho, seizing 250 head of livestock.
15 April 2025: Settlers surrounded the Arab al-Malihāt community north of Jericho from the northern, eastern, and southern sides.
15 April 2025: Settlers demolished several small agricultural rooms in the Khallet ash-Shanarah area of Kafr ad-Dik, west of Salfit, owned by citizens Muslih Qa‘oud and Basheer Taher Ahmad.
15 April 2025: Settlers assaulted a number of residents in the village of Kisan, east of Bethlehem, seizing a flock of sheep.
