Israeli settlers torch Palestinian warehouse and farmland amid surge in West Bank violence

Dozens of Israeli settlers launched arson attacks on a Palestinian warehouse, a Bedouin village, and farmland in the northern occupied West Bank on Tuesday, injuring several Palestinians.

The incidents come during the annual olive harvest season, when Palestinians access their agricultural land, and follow a UN report showing that settler violence last month hit its highest level since records began two decades ago.

In Beit Lid, a Palestinian warehouse was torched and trucks destroyed. Fires also engulfed tents in the Bedouin village of Deir Sharaf. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said troops intervened, arresting several settlers, but were later attacked themselves by other settlers nearby. Four suspects were detained by Israeli police.

President Isaac Herzog condemned the violence as “shocking and serious,” calling it a “red line.” IDF Central Command chief Maj-Gen Avi Bluth said such attacks “undermine security stability” and “must be dealt with firmly.”

According to the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA), October saw more than 260 settler attacks — an average of eight per day — with over 140 Palestinians injured and more than 4,200 olive trees destroyed.

The violence comes amid record settlement expansion. Watchdog Peace Now says tenders for over 5,600 new settler homes have been issued in 2025, as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich pushes to de facto annex the West Bank and block any future Palestinian state.