Settler Attacks on Palestinians

Attacks by Israeli Settlers on Palestinians have been a long recurring theme under the Zionist occupation of Palestine. The majority of these attacks take place in the peripheries of the West Bank, and are often conducted in the presence of IDF soldiers who refuse to intervene even when the settlers resort to violence — though they are usually quick to put an end to any form of resistance or retaliation by the Palestinians.

Documented Settler Attacks by Year

The following is an incomplete list of attacks on Palestinians and Palestinian villages by Israeli settlers, grouped by year:

2023

October 2023

Wadi Al-Seeq, October 12, 2023

A photograph uploaded by the Israeli settlers to Facebook, showing their brutalization and debasement of Palestinian villagers in Wadi Al-Seeq on October 12, 2023.

A group of Israeli soldiers and settlers were accused of a brutal attack on three Palestinians in the village of Wadi Al-Seeq, about 10 miles east of Ramallah — which had been largely evacuated due to a marked increase in brutal attacks on Palestinain villages and villagers in the area as part of an organized displacement campaign — a few days after the October 7, 2023 Hamas Attack on Israel.

The victims reported that they were beaten, stripped to their underwear, bound and photographed. Two of them were urinated on, one had cigarettes put out on his body and another was sexually assaulted by an assailant who tried to sodomize him. The IDF acknowledged the incident and said it was investigating; the commanding IDF officer was removed from his post at least for the duration of the investigation.

After the Palestinians were abused for around six hours, they were taken outside and thrown to the ground before one of the attackers photographed the Palestinians and uploaded the picture to an ultra-nationalist Facebook group. The post was later deleted but not before online Palestinian news outlets had captured a screenshot.