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Israeli Settlers Burn Palestinian Warehouse in West Bank

Dozens of Israeli settlers targeted a Palestinian warehouse, a Bedouin village, and agricultural land in the northern part of the occupied West Bank

sarah

Nov 12, 2025 - 19:44

Israeli Settlers Burn Palestinian Warehouse in West Bank

A warehouse in Beit Lid was attacked and trucks were set on fire.

Several Palestinians were injured.

These incidents are the latest in a recent surge in settler violence, which has occurred during the olive harvest season, when Palestinians tend to their agricultural lands around towns and villages.

This incident comes just after the UN humanitarian office stated last month that the number of violent attacks by settlers was the highest since statistics began being collected nearly 20 years ago.

Since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has built approximately 160 settlements, home to 700,000 Jews – land that Palestinians, along with Gaza, want as a potential future state. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live in these settlements.

These settlements are illegal under international law.

Tuesday's footage shows dozens of masked men on a hill east of Tulkarm. A Palestinian warehouse in Beit Lid was attacked and trucks set on fire.

Tents can be seen on fire in the Bedouin village of Deir Sharaf, and women can be heard screaming in the background.

Palestinian Authority Minister Muayyed Shaaban, head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, said the attacks were part of a campaign to create a "hostile environment through intimidation and terror."

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stated that soldiers went to the scene "to prevent a confrontation using riot gear" and arrested several Israeli civilians. They further stated that settlers gathered nearby then attacked the soldiers and damaged their vehicle.

Israeli police reported that four suspects had been arrested.

In a post on X, Israeli President Isaac Herzog described the recent incidents as "shocking and serious" and blamed "a few violent and dangerous individuals."

He added: "Such violence against civilians and IDF soldiers crosses a red line and I strongly condemn it."

Major-General Avi Bluth, head of the IDF Central Command, also condemned the attacks, saying that such incidents "undermine the stability of the security situation."

In a statement sent by the Israeli military, he told officers, "The reality that anarchist youth are carrying out violent actions against innocent civilians and security forces is unacceptable and extremely serious. This must be dealt with firmly."

"The instructions to IDF soldiers are clear: do not sit idly by and do everything in your power to prevent any acts of nationalist crime."

Tuesday's large-scale attack was a rare example of Israeli law enforcement taking action to counter settler violence, which has escalated dramatically since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the Gaza War.

The Israeli rights group Yesh Din said that 93.8% of 1,701 police investigations into crimes committed by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) between 2005 and 2024 were closed without prosecution.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that in October, there were more than 260 Israeli settler attacks resulting in casualties, property damage, or both—an average of eight incidents per day.

According to its report, settler violence during the olive harvest has reached the highest level recorded in recent years, with nearly 150 attacks recorded so far, resulting in injuries to more than 140 Palestinians and damage to more than 4,200 trees and plants in 77 villages.

Nearly 1,500 settler attacks have been recorded since the beginning of the year.

United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, recently wrote on X: "Failure to prevent or punish such attacks is inconsistent with international law. Palestinians must be protected. There can be no impunity. Perpetrators must be held accountable."

Palestinians and human rights groups frequently accuse the IDF of protecting or aiding extremist settlers.

On Tuesday, hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of 13-year-old Aysam Mualla in Beita, near Nablus. He had reportedly been in a coma since being hit by tear gas fired by the IDF while villagers were picking olives near a settler checkpoint in Evyatar last month.

In some cases, Israeli activists and foreign volunteers who have come to help Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest have also been attacked.

On Saturday, videos posted on social media from Beita showed masked men beating local Palestinians and volunteer paramedics, as well as a photographer and security advisor for the Reuters news agency, with batons.

An Israeli citizen, the 77-year-old head of a Tel Aviv art college, who had joined the harvest, was also photographed with blood running down his face.