Israel has killed 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7, 2023
Palestinians stand in a damaged building following an Israeli settlers’ attack near Duma in Nablus, 14 March 2025
Mat Nashed writes in Al Jazeera on 1 Jul 2025:
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has escalated its violence in the occupied West Bank, killing 1,000 Palestinians.
As the world was distracted by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 56,331 people and uprooted nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, Israel ramped up its violent raids on the West Bank, as well as its silence as Israeli settlers attack and kill Palestinian villagers.
The most recent casualty was Samer Bassam al-Zagharneh, a young man who was shot by Israeli soldiers on July 1. According to the Wafa Palestinian news agency, al-Zagharneh was killed near the separation barrier, which Israel began building in 2002 to divide Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and which cuts through Palestinian communities and agricultural fields.
In the West Bank 7 October 2023 to 1 July 2025
This is all you need to know about how we got here.
Who is attacking Palestinians in the West Bank?
Israeli forces and Israeli settlers from illegal settlements that are choking the West Bank. Settlers launch sudden, violent raids on towns, burning property, attacking people, and trying to drive them out of their homes. At the same time, the security forces have surrounded refugee camps and raided them relentlessly, driving yet more people from their homes and not allowing them to return.
Many settlers have also been handed semi-automatic weapons and “integrated” into Israeli forces in the West Bank, to compensate for all the personnel deployed to carry out the war on Gaza. This has blurred the lines between the security forces and settlers, empowering the latter to escalate violence against Palestinians.
Why is Israel doing this?
To displace Palestinians and annex their land, according to residents, experts, rights groups, and observers.