Human Rights Watch
West Bank: Surge in Settler Violence Threatens Mass Atrocities
(Beirut) – Two Israeli settler attacks on Tal village near Nablus in the West Bank on July 24, 2026, resulted in the killing of four Palestinians and two Israelis, Human Rights Watch said today. The incident triggered a wave of settler reprisal attacks in nearby Palestinian villages, the Israeli government’s announcement of a “major counterterrorism operation,” and Israeli officials calling for the destruction of Palestinian homes and villages. Concerned governments should urgently act to prevent further settler violence and atrocities.“The Israeli government didn’t prevent the settler attacks on Tal village, so now it needs to stop settler reprisals and escalating military action that will make a bad situation worse,” said Sarah Sanbar, acting Israel and Palestine researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Years of lawlessness and impunity for attacks has turned the West Bank into a powder keg waiting to explode, and decisive action is urgently needed.” The July 24 killings in Tal bring the Palestinian death toll in the occupied West Bank since July 19 to 10. As of July 19, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported 68 Palestinians killed in the West Bank in 2026, at least 13 by settlers. OCHA reported that as of July 15, 20 Israelis had been injured in 2026 in the West Bank. Settler violence has risen sharply since the current Israeli government took office in October 2022, with the most recent spike in March and April 2026, during the United States and Israel’s war with Iran.Human Rights Watch interviewed two witnesses to the attacks and a local activist, and verified six videos of the incidents posted to social media platforms and shared directly with researchers.Between 6:10 and 6:45 a.m. on July 24, 40 to 50 settlers, including children, approached Tal from the east, attacked four or five Palestinian homes with stones, and tried to break in, witnesses said. A confrontation between the settlers and Palestinians erupted, during which an armed settler shot and wounded a Palestinian man, the witnesses said. More Palestinians then arrived to assist the family, and the settlers fled. About 30 minutes later, the same group of settlers reentered Tal from the southwest, where they were joined by Israeli soldiers, said Mujahid Waleed, a local resident who witnessed both incidents.“When I arrived [to the second location], the settlers and the Palestinians were already fighting,” Waleed said. “The settlers were attacking the Palestinians, and the army stood by and didn’t intervene. The army only intervened once a Palestinian man disarmed a settler and started shooting at the soldier and settlers. The army fired back and killed point-blank the [Palestinian] carrying the weapon, and settlers and soldiers shot the other three unarmed Palestinians.” The attacks took place in Area B, an area under joint Israeli-Palestinian Authority security control under the Oslo II Accords. The four Palestinians killed were two brothers and two cousins from the Ramadan family.Human Rights Watch verified and geolocated two videos showing the confrontation that are consistent with Waleed’s account. One video shows two armed settlers alongside a uniformed soldier, close to a group of Palestinian men. The settlers apparently start the physical altercation, kicking a Palestinian man before a fight breaks out and a soldier fires into the air. When two Palestinian men try to take the settlers’ weapons, gunshots are heard and a Palestinian man falls to the ground. A settler is seen holding a raised weapon. A second video shows the second Palestinian man taking a firearm from a settler and pushing him to the ground; the settler draws a handgun, and the Palestinian man appears to fire at him.The Israeli military stated at 9:32 a.m. that soldiers were dispatched to the area following a report regarding “an attack on Israeli civilians who were hiking in the area” and that “terrorists stole the weapon of a security personnel who had arrived at the scene and opened fire toward the Israeli civilians.” The military later announced that the incident resulted in the killing of Benyahu Mellet, 32, and Maj. Yuval Ezra, 27, an active-duty soldier. The Israeli military said the platoon commander returned fire and killed the Palestinian gunman, the Times of Israel reported. It did not provide details about the killing of the other three Palestinians.Human Rights Watch, other nongovernmental organizations, and the media have repeatedly reported attacks by armed settlers that often occur alongside Israeli army units or with soldiers standing by and failing to intervene. They found that settlers responsible for attacks often operate with the financial, material, and legal backing of the Israeli state.The Times of Israel reported that Mellet headed the civil defense squad of the Havat Gilad settlement. Following October 7, 2023, the National Security Ministry established these squads in West Bank settlements and gave them special policing powers, uniforms, and weapons. The squads’ establishment, along with settler-only “regional defense battalions” in the Israeli military, have contributed to the dangerous blurring of the line between settlers and soldiers. In response to the incident, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency security meeting, announced the redeployment of five military battalions to the West Bank, and directed the military to carry out an “intensive counterterrorism operation.”Since then, settler reprisal attacks have been reported in nearbyvillages, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. The attacks have resulted in injuries, arson, and other property damage.Netanyahu also announced that he would accelerate the regularization of settler outposts and the establishment of new ones. These outposts, which have often served as launching pads for attacks on Palestinian communities, are illegal under both Israeli law and the Fourth Geneva Convention. Their retroactive legalization serves to push the frontier of settlement expansion and enable the appropriation of Palestinian land, often serving as precursors to larger settlements.Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Netanyahu to “allow the establishment of a settlement at the Sela outpost, near the place where the severe attack took place this morning. To this end, it is necessary to transfer this area from Area B to Area C [fully Israeli-controlled territory], take responsibility for it and allow a settlement to be established there.”Since the attack, Israeli officials have issued statements calling for the destruction of Palestinian homes and villages. Smotrich said the villages “should look like the refugee camps in Nablus and Tulkarem,” which were destroyed during an Israeli military operation in January 2025 that Human Rights Watch found amounted to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. In a post on X, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said: “The cities and villages of the killers in the West Bank should be treated the same way Beit Hanoun [an embattled Palestinian town] was treated in Gaza. ... For every Jew murdered - the enemy must absorb the loss of lands and homes.”In July 2024, the International Court of Justice found that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful and that Israel is in breach of the prohibition of racial segregation and apartheid. The court found Israel has an obligation to evacuate all settlers in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes, and provide them with reparations.Governments should urgently act to prevent further atrocities across the West Bank, including by imposing targeted sanctions on those implicated in ongoing grave abuses, suspending arms transfers to Israel, banning trade with illegal settlements, suspending preferential trade agreements with Israel, and supporting the International Criminal Court and its ongoing investigations, including by executing its arrest warrants. “The settler violence against Tal is a reminder that if the violence is not stopped and those responsible are not held to account, escalation and further atrocities are inevitable,” Sanbar said. “Governments need to act urgently so that the Israeli government does not continue to act as if it has a green light to commit further atrocities.”
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