Caught Up Between Iranian Missiles and Settlers: Israeli Violence Runs Wild in the West Bank

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/2026-03-10/ty-article-magazine/

Missiles and interceptor fragments are not the main danger in the West Bank. During the first week of the war, five Palestinians were killed by settlers and hundreds arrested

by Amira Hass and Matan Golan         10 March 2026           Haaretz

A Palestinian man praying, Ras al-Ein, on January. Credit: Itai Ron

Three Palestinians were killed on Saturday after allegedly being shot by settlers, and 13 interceptor fragments fell in several locations in the West Bank, 10 of them in the Ramallah district. The dead are Amir Shanaran, 27, from the village of Wadi Rahim, on the outskirts of the town of Yatta; Thair Farouk Hamayel, 24; and Fara Jawdat Hamayel, 57, from the village of Khirbat Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah. Mohammad Hasan Murara, 55, suffocated from tear-gas fired by soldiers who arrived in Abu Falah following the settler attack and died in the hospital.

In total, 10 attacks and acts of harassment by settlers against Palestinians were documented on Saturday alone. These three deaths join those of two brothers from the village of Qaryut, near Nablus – Mohammad and Fahim Taha – who were killed by a settler reservist last Monday.

"We live between the fear of missiles, alarms and the sound of interceptions, since we have no shelters or safe rooms, and the fear of settler attacks and army raids on homes. And in between, we are locked behind iron gates," a resident of the city of Dura, southwest of Hebron, summarized the situation in a conversation with Haaretz.

The funeral of one of three Palestinians killed in a settler attack in the village of Abu Falah near Ramallah, earlier this week. Credit: Mohammed Torokman/Reuters

The Palestinian Authority's Civil Defense forces (firefighters) have handled 96 cases of falling interceptor fragments since the start of the war. The agency's spokesperson warned citizens to avoid what many do – going onto rooftops during sirens (which are heard from nearby settlements), gathering in open areas and touching missile fragments. But as throughout the rest of the year, there was no one to protect those attacked in the 64 acts of harassment and assaults carried out by settlers in the first eight days of the war.

In terms of dry statistics, the daily average of attacks and acts of harassment in the first week of the war – 7.7 – is lower than the 13.7 recorded last month. However, the outcome is already far more severe: five Palestinians killed by civilian or militarized settlers in one week, compared to one Palestinian-American citizen – Nasrallah Abu Siyamfrom the village of Mukhmas – killed in February. In that month, according to data from the PLO Negotiations Department, there were 384 attacks and acts of harassment. Indeed, on Thursday, 11 families from the Kaabneh tribe left their homes east of the village of Duma under pressure from this ongoing violence.

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Another community that has suffered for years from settler harassment and violence is Khirbet Samra in the northern Jordan Valley. But on Thursday, it was soldiers who attacked the community. They drove away livestock, conducted searches without apparent reason in residents' homes, confiscated items with Hebrew writing on them while claiming "this is not yours," and knocked a solar panel to the ground.

The force commander was suspended from his position pending completion of an investigation into the incident, and the IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated that the force's conduct was unacceptable, had been investigated and dealt with accordingly: "IDF soldiers are required to act professionally and objectively."

The commander of those soldiers, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, head of the IDF Central Command, signed 16 jurisdiction orders that evening, meeting settler demands. The orders legalize four outposts, announce the re-establishment of the Ganim and Kadim settlements dismantled as part of the 2005 disengagement, and expand the area of ten other settlements.

The Judea and Samaria Division, which according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit has been reinforced with eight battalions since the start of the war with Iran, has been enforcing strict movement restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank for a week.

The funeral of Amir Shanaran. The procession from Abu Falah took a long, narrow route after the entrance from the road was blocked by an iron gate. Credit: Mussa Qawasma/Reuters

On the first day of the war, most of the iron gates installed at the entrances to villages and cities in the West Bank were locked. Later in the week, entry and exit through some checkpoints were permitted for a few hours each day, subject to identity card checks by soldiers, which delay movement. The blockades and restrictions also have a direct negative impact on the already poor economic situation. Since Israel has withheld most of the Palestinian Authority's revenues for almost a year, the PA is behind on salary payments – which are already cut – to its public sector employees. The last payment was on February 16.

The blockades immediately affect shops and customer traffic.

"On Thursday they opened the checkpoint for two hours and allowed a small amount of goods to enter – bread, flour, gas and food for livestock and poultry – and then they closed the gate again," a resident of the village of Duma told Haaretz. "I haven't gone to work since Sunday because of the blockades, and hundreds of other people in the village are in the same situation."

For this reason, even when grocery store shelves are full, people can only buy basic necessities. The blockades also harm people's access to long-scheduled medical check-ups and treatments, and the ability of ambulances to reach the injured and sick on time. The funeral procession for the two deceased from Abu Falah, which left Ramallah hospital yesterday morning, also had to take a long, narrow route through three villages because the entrance from Route 60 to the village of Turmus Ayya was blocked by a locked iron gate.

"On Thursday they opened the checkpoint for two hours and allowed a small amount of goods to enter, then they closed the gate again. I haven't gone to work since Sunday because of the blockades, and hundreds of other people in the village are in the same situation."

A resident of Duma

As part of the offensive-defensive policy decided by Central Command, there has also been an increase in military raids on Palestinian communities and arrests: in February, the PLO's Negotiations Department counted 1,252 military raids, an average of 44 per day. In the first six days of March, 380 raids were counted, an average of 63 per day.

The raids disrupt normal daytime activities, nighttime sleep and the late-night waking hours during Ramadan. Sometimes they involve the firing of tear-gas grenades – as was the case, for example, in a raid on Thursday in the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah. Sometimes they also involve soldiers firing at residents and injuring them, as happened on Friday evening during Iftar, the meal that ends the fasting day.

An army force invaded the village of Beita, south of Nablus, and according to a report by the Palestinian news agency Wafa, soldiers shot and wounded a young man in the leg. In an earlier raid that day in al-Bireh, no soldier firing was reported, but streets were blocked in a neighborhood in the southeast of the city.

Soldiers in the West Bank, 2024. The army often does not prevent such attacks and even arrests those targeted. Credit: IDF Spokesperson

Over the past weekend, a change in the nature of the raids was also felt. On Thursday morning, the army raided nine villages in western Ramallah with a large number of military vehicles, including armored vehicles moving on tracks. According to testimonies collected by the Israeli-Palestinian rights group B'Tselem, in some of the villages soldiers first entered on foot, and later were joined by vehicles, as well as Border Police and police forces. The forces deployed in main streets and residential neighborhoods, blocked central and secondary entrances, and restricted residents' movement. Later they also raided homes and conducted searches. The raids in these villages lasted throughout the day.

On Friday, tart of the war with Iran, the army has also expanded the practice of taking over Palestinians' apartments and buildings, converting them into military bases where soldiers reside and evicting residents from the occupied apartments – as it did in June 2025.

Interceptions over Beit Zayit yesterday. In the third week of Ramadan, with the war's duration and scope unclear, Palestinians say they feel more isolated and abandoned than ever. Credit: Itay Cohen

Based on a preliminary count by B'Tselem and the Palestinian media, as of Saturday at least 57 multi-apartment buildings belonging to Palestinians have been converted into military bases in the communities of Arraba, Faqqua, Ya'bad, Qaffin and Zeita in the northern West Bank; in the villages of Beit Sira, Ni'lin, Saffa, Beit Ur al-Tahta, Beit Ur al-Fauqa and al-Tira, west of Ramallah; and al-Bireh, near the Psagot settlement. In the Bethlehem area, Palestinian homes were converted into military outposts in the villages of Husan and Surif, while in the southern West Bank this occurred in Arab al-Ramadin, Tarqumiya, Idna and Tapuach.

Haaretz received reports from al-Fawar and Dura about Palestinian residents who were beaten by soldiers during raids and searches, with some rushed for medical treatment with bruises and bone fractures. The Palestinian news agency Wafa also reported that last Tuesday soldiers beat an elderly man in the town of Doha, south of Bethlehem, and an elderly woman in the Askar refugee camp. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit was asked about the reports from al-Fawar and Dura, and about accumulating claims that soldiers routinely beat Palestinians.

As expected, the number of arrests also increased. Palestinian sources report the arrest of 331 people in the first six days of March, compared to 866 in the 28 days of February. According to a statement from the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, on Friday "more than 200 wanted individuals involved in terrorism were arrested – among them explosive device manufacturers, weapons dealers, Hamas affiliates, inciters to terror and suspects who planned to carry out terror attacks."

The spokesperson did not specify how many arrests were made in each category. The army also stated that during hundreds of raids and searches, approximately 30 weapons and two lathes used to manufacture weapons were found.

It is unclear whether the IDF's numbers also include village residents whom soldiers arrested during settler attacks. This has become a common practice: Not only does the army fail to prevent the attacks, it even arrests those who are attacked. For example, in the southern Hebron Hills on February 28, a resident of the village of A-Sfay was wounded in the hand by settler gunfire and another resident was arrested. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit referred to the arrested and wounded individuals as "suspects" and stated that two Israelis were injured in the incident. In Umm al-Amd, soldiers arrested five Palestinians, including a 14-year-old shepherd, after a settler fired into the air near a Palestinian family.

Ras Ein al-Auja in January, when hundreds of residents were forced to leave and disperse across the West Bank. Credit: Itai Ron

On Thursday it was reported that settlers attacked Palestinian shepherds in Rujum al-Ali: the Red Crescent evacuated two for medical treatment and soldiers arrested the others. On the same day, a military force was reported to have arrested Palestinian residents from Khirbet al-Fakhit during a settler attack. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit has not yet responded to these incidents.

In al-Hadidiya in the Jordan Valley, soldiers also arrested Palestinians after settlers invaded their olive grove with a herd of cows. Activists who arrived at the scene testified that as IDF forces arrested the Palestinian men, the settlers entered the residential structures and vandalized property. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated that they are not familiar with that claim and that the six Palestinians who were arrested were released shortly afterward.

And so, in the third week of Ramadan, with no one knowing how long the war with Iran will last or how far it will expand, Palestinians feel more isolated and abandoned than ever in terms of the world's interest in their situation and the ability of international bodies to curb Israeli measures against them.

"These are the hardest and worst times and conditions we have ever lived through – and no one is listening to us," wrote one participant in a WhatsApp group documenting settler attacks on Saturday. "And at the end of the day, we're blamed and criticized if we leave our homes. The burden has become unbearable... I write from the depths of the pain and suffering we experience every day. Every moment we fear for our children, afraid of what is to come. We are left alone, without strength, but only with God's help."

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