Jerusalem: Escalating Israeli occupier attacks have fully or partially displaced 107 Palestinian communities since January 2023, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
According to Anadolu Agency, the rights organization reported that the figure was based on data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which documented an average of 6.6 occupier attacks per day in 2026 resulting in casualties, property damage or both, marking the highest rate in its records.
The organization highlighted that occupier violence escalated in March and April, involving killings, including of children, assaults, sexual violence, arbitrary detention, arson, property destruction, and theft. Human Rights Watch investigated attacks in April and May targeting seven Palestinian villages and towns across the governorates of Ramallah in the central West Bank, Nablus in the north, and the Jordan Valley in the east, interviewing 20 witnesses and reviewing videos recorded by witnesses and surveillance camera footage.
Sarah Sanbar, acting Israel and Palestine researcher at Human Rights Watch, stated, "The Israeli government and the settlers share the same goal of maximum land and minimum Palestinians, with the authorities not only failing to stop settler violence, but actively enabling it." She added, "Settlers shoot, attack, and expel Palestinians from their land, and the state provides the weapons, the legal cover, and the budget to do it."
The organization pointed out that occupiers responsible for displacing Palestinians "operate with financial, material and legal support from the Israeli state." It added that "Israeli authorities are arming, funding, and granting impunity to the violent settlers responsible for these escalating deadly abuses."
Citing a report by the Times of Israel, the rights group noted that "the government had approved about 50 million shekels (about $16 million) for illegal settlement outposts, funding that has been used for all-terrain vehicles, night-vision goggles, and drones that settlers use to harass Palestinian communities."
"According to Amnesty International, the Ministry of Settlement and National Missions' budget has increased 122 percent under the current government," Human Rights Watch noted. At least 15 Palestinians, including two children, were killed by occupiers as of July 24, compared to 16 such killings in 2023, according to OCHA.
The organization emphasized that the escalation in occupier violence "has been clear since the current government took office in December 2022." Furthermore, in July 2024, the International Court of Justice concluded in an advisory opinion that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is unlawful and that it had systematically failed to prevent or punish occupier attacks against Palestinians.
The occupied West Bank has witnessed continued escalation in occupier attacks and Israeli military operations since the start of Israel's genocide in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023, alongside the expansion of settlement outposts, the construction of roads, and increased restrictions on Palestinian movement.