Israeli forces shield settlers in West Bank

Israeli authorities are directly involved in settler attacks that have killed, injured and displaced Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli security forces provide protection to settlers, a UN inquiry said yesterday.

The report by the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory found that Israeli authorities have enabled settler attacks through financial and military support, in a climate of impunity fostered by judicial and law-enforcement bodies.

It said attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural land have surged since 2023, rising by 130 percent, including incidents involving groups of masked assailants. Israeli security forces have routinely accompanied settlers and acted as a shield for the violence, the report said.

The Israeli Prime Minister Office and military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, France, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway have imposed sanctions over violence in the West Bank, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said yesterday.

France has also barred Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, four leaders of settler organisations and 21 violent settlers, Barrot said in a post on social media platform X.

Israel rejects charges that its troops shield settlers during attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, saying such actions are rogue incidents that violate military protocol and are investigated. Israeli and Palestinian rights groups say such investigations rarely lead to punishment.

Hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers live among millions of Palestinians on land Israel captured in a 1967 war, where Palestinians hope to build a state. Most countries and the UN’s top court consider such settlements a violation of international law, which Israel disputes citing historical and biblical ties to the land.

At least seven Palestinians were killed and 832 injured last year, with violence continuing into 2026 in the form of near-daily attacks, according to the United Nations.

“The increasing participation of Israeli security forces in settler attacks amounts to a de facto collapse of the distinction between settlers and soldiers,” the report found.