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· collected 2026-08-20 · by Al Jazeera Staff
A new report by Human Rights Watch claims that Israeli settler violence is driving a wave of forced displacement in the occupied West Bank, with 107 communities and 5,900 Palestinians affected since January 2023. According to the report, settlers have carried out attacks including killings, assaults, sexual violence, and property demolition, often with the acquiescence or active enabling of Israeli authorities. The report cites research by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that found more Palestinians were forcibly displaced in the first four months of this year than in all of 2025. HRW accuses Israel of providing settlers with "weapons, legal cover, and budget" to carry out attacks.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-20,
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Story summary
In the occupied West Bank, dozens of Palestinian communities are at risk of erasure due to escalating attacks by Israeli settlers. According to a new report by Human Rights Watch, released on Thursday, these attacks have led to a wave of forced displacement of Palestinians. The US-based rights group investigated settler attacks in seven Palestinian West Bank communities between April and May, including Al-Mughayyir, Mikhmas, and Taybeh in the Ramallah governorate, and Jalud and Qaryut in the Nablus governorate. The report found that Israeli authorities are arming, funding, and granting impunity to settlers to carry out these attacks. This violence has been growing since the current government took office in December 2022, with a surge in attacks during the US and Israel's war on Iran earlier this year. The reported abuses include killings, assaults, sexual violence, physical and mental abuse, arbitrary detention, arson, property demolition, and theft. The report highlights that Israeli settler violence is driving a wave of forced displacement, fueled by the rapid expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Written for “Israeli Settler Violence Spreads” on 2026-08-31,
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Dozens of Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank are at risk of erasure due to escalating attacks by Israeli settlers, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.
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Dozens → occupy → Watch
Increased settler attacks, along with the rapid expansion of Israeli settlements illegal under international law, are driving a wave of forced displacement of Palestinians, the US-based rights group said in a report released on Thursday.
asserted
group → drive → Thursday
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The report accuses Israeli authorities of arming, funding and granting impunity to settlers to carry out the attacks.
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report → attack → attacks
Israeli settler violence has been growing since the current government took office in December 2022.
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government → grow → December
But attacks spiked in the first two months of the US and Israel’s war on Iran, with killings including those of children, assaults, sexual violence, physical and mental abuse, arbitrary detention, arson, property demolition and theft among the reported abuses, the report adds.
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report → spike → abuses
“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,” Sarah Sanbar, the acting Israel and Palestine researcher at Human Rights Watch, said.
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Sanbar → share → Watch
“Settlers shoot, attack, and expel Palestinians from their land, and the state provides the weapons, the legal cover, and the budget to do it,” she added.
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she → shoot → it
HRW investigated settler attacks in seven Palestinian West Bank communities in April and May, including Al-Mughayyir, Mikhmas and Taybeh, in Ramallah governorate; Jalud and Qaryut, in Nablus governorate; and Khirbet Hamsa and Muarrajat East, in the Jordan Valley.
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HRW → investigate → Valley
The report found that, sometimes, armed settlers acted alongside Israeli military units or with soldiers standing by yet failing to intervene, during raids on Palestinian residents and property, contributing to a pattern of forced displacement.
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soldiers → find → displacement
Rising forced displacement
It said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) research found more Palestinians were forcibly displaced by settler attacks, demolitions and evictions in the first four months of this year than in the whole of 2025.
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Palestinians → rise → 2025
OCHA found that 107 communities, comprising 5,900 Palestinians, had been completely or partially displaced as a result of settler violence since January 2023.
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communities → find → January
It also found that the Israeli military expelled another 32,000 Palestinians from their homes in the occupied West Bank since January 2025, essentially emptying the Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps.
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military → find → camps
Human Rights Watch says the attacks and lack of state protection have created a coercive environment that leaves many Palestinians saying they have no choice but to leave their homes.
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they → say → homes
The report recommended targeted sanctions on those implicated in ongoing abuses, the suspension of weapons transfers to Israel and a trade ban with illegal settlements, and urged countries to consider suspending preferential trade agreements with Israel.
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report → recommend → Israel
“The impunity Israeli authorities accord settlers stems directly from the free pass Israel’s allies and donors have granted it,” Sanbar said.
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Sanbar → accord → it
“Israel and the governments that give it a blank check share responsibility and should be held to account,” she said.
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she → give → account
