HRW: Settler violence driving West Bank Palestinian displacement
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- Human Rights Watch released a report finding dozens of Palestinian West Bank communities are at risk of erasure from escalating settler violence and rapid settlement expansion, accusing Israeli authorities of arming, funding and granting impunity to settlers.
- Sarah Sanbar, HRW's acting Israel and Palestine researcher, said the Israeli government and settlers share the goal of "maximum land and minimum Palestinians," with the state providing "weapons, legal cover, and budget" for attacks.
- UN OCHA data cited by HRW shows more Palestinians were forcibly displaced by settler attacks, demolitions and evictions in the first four months of this year than in all of 2025, with 107 communities (5,900 Palestinians) completely or partially displaced since January 2023.
- The Israeli military expelled another 32,000 Palestinians from homes in the occupied West Bank since January 2025, essentially emptying the Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps.
- Settler attacks spiked in the first two months of the US-Israel war on Iran, with reported abuses including killings of children, sexual violence, arson, property demolition and theft, per the HRW report.
- HRW investigated attacks in seven Palestinian communities in April and May — Al-Mughayyir, Mikhmas, Taybeh, Jalud, Qaryut, Khirbet Hamsa and Muarrajat East — finding armed settlers sometimes acted alongside Israeli military units or with soldiers standing by.
- HRW recommended targeted sanctions on those implicated in abuses, suspension of weapons transfers to Israel, a trade ban with illegal settlements, and reconsideration of preferential trade agreements.
Why it matters: HRW is directly calling on Israel's allies — including the US — to suspend military aid and impose targeted sanctions, framing the settler violence as state-enabled displacement. The 32,000 expulsions and emptying of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams camps represent a concrete, documented escalation of forced displacement under the current Israeli government, giving ammunition to sanctions advocates in Europe and Washington.
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