As Israel’s war on Iran widens, settler attacks escalate across the West Bank, leaving Palestinians under siege amid global silence.
Newsroom (03/03/2026 Gaudium Press) While global attention fixates on the new war that erupted on February 28—when Israel and the United States launched strikes against Iran—another front of violence has intensified in the occupied West Bank. As the conflict spreads across the Middle East, engulfing Gulf states and even Cyprus, Jewish settlers, emboldened by Israel’s ultra-right government, have continued their campaign of terror against Palestinian civilians.
The Attack in Qaryut
In one of the latest assaults, armed settlers attacked the village of Qaryut, south of Nablus, killing two brothers and injuring four others. The victims, identified by the Palestinian Ministry of Health as Mohammad Taha Muammar, 52, and his brother Fahim, 48, were shot at close range. Eyewitnesses describe a chaotic scene—the smell of smoke, bullets ripping through olive trees, and settlers torching Palestinian property while Israeli soldiers stood by.
Muhammad Al‑Boom, a 20‑year‑old paramedic, recalls standing beside Mohammad Taha when he was shot. “It was a settler who pulled the trigger,” he said. “I saw him, five meters away.” Videos shared by local activists confirm his account: masked settlers moving undisturbed, firing into the crowd as Israeli forces released tear gas to disperse Palestinians rather than their assailants.
A Pattern of Escalating Violence
Such attacks have surged in frequency since the October 7, 2023 Hamas raid on Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza. Human rights groups record a sharp rise in displacement, arson attacks, home demolitions, and shootings in Palestinian towns. Settlers, often operating from illegal outposts, move under the protection of Israeli forces, targeting farmland, livestock, and entire villages in an effort to seize land and force residents to flee.
In Taybeh, the only entirely Christian village in the West Bank, settlers trespassed onto land belonging to the Khouryeh family on February 28—the same day the regional war began—stealing a horse and foal. Residents called Israeli authorities for help, but soldiers escorted the settlers away without returning the stolen animals.
“This is part of a worrying pattern,” said Fr. Bashar Fawadleh, Taybeh’s Latin parish priest. “Families live in fear as incursions come closer to their homes and livelihoods.”
The West Bank Becomes a Prison
In nearby Baytin, the Israeli army has installed a new iron gate, effectively sealing the village and transforming the area into a controlled zone reminiscent of Gaza’s blockade. Movement restrictions now span large parts of the West Bank, shutting down roads, checkpoints, and even access to the al‑Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem during Ramadan.
Amnesty International has condemned this “unprecedented escalation” in the pace and scope of Israeli settlement expansion, calling it part of a systematic effort to make annexation irreversible. These measures, the group warns, “entrench apartheid and destroy Palestinian lives.”
Global Inaction and Expanding Settlements
Despite global condemnation and hundreds of UN resolutions, Israeli settlement building continues unchecked. Human rights lawyer Erika Guevara‑Rosas notes that the Israeli government—whose prime minister faces war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court—“openly defies international law” while enjoying “unconditional support” from the United States.
Peace Now, an Israeli monitoring group, reports that 86 new settler outposts were established in 2025 alone—many disguised as “livestock farms.” These sites, built on confiscated Palestinian land, have become flashpoints for violence, with settlers frequently attacking farmers and shepherds under military cover.
A Crisis with No End in Sight
Today, over 750,000 Israeli settlers live illegally in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Their growing presence, fortified by government support, has made daily life unbearable for Palestinians—men shot trying to defend their homes, children tear‑gassed outside school gates, and priests watching as ancient Christian towns face slow‑motion cleansing.
As the regional war with Iran threatens to widen, the West Bank burns quietly in the background—a mirror of Gaza’s devastation, a territory suffocating under decades of occupation, and a people left to face an escalating storm with no horizon of justice in sight.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Asianews.it
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