Ramallah: The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission announced Sunday that it has documented a total of 38,359 violations committed by the Israeli occupation army and settlers against Palestinian citizens and their property in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA, the Israeli army was responsible for 31,205 of these incidents, while settlers carried out 7,154 attacks, which led to the killing of 33 Palestinians. These included 14 in Nablus Governorate, 12 in Ramallah and al-Bireh, 3 in Hebron, and one each in Bethlehem, Qalqilia, and Salfit.
The report also revealed that settlers established 114 new settlement outposts during the same period, triggering the forced displacement of 33 Palestinian Bedouin communities. These communities comprised 455 families and a total of 2,853 individuals who were forced to leave their homes.
Israel seized approximately 55,000 dunums of Palestinian land since October 2023, including 20,000 dunums under the pretext of adjusting natural reserve boundaries, and 26,000 dunums declared as ‘state land’ in Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Qalqilia. An additional 1,756 dunums were confiscated via 108 military orders for the construction of security roads, military towers, and buffer zones around settlements.
The occupation also intensified efforts to fragment Palestinian land through road expansion and bypass roads meant exclusively for settlers, facilitating the connection of settlement blocs while isolating Palestinian communities. A total of 25 buffer zones have been created around settlements, mainly in the northern West Bank.
The planning authorities of the Israeli government reviewed 355 structural plans for the construction of 37,415 new settlement units, covering 38,551 dunums of land. Of these, 18,801 units have already been approved, while 18,614 are still pending. Jerusalem saw the highest concentration of plans, followed by Bethlehem, Salfit, Ramallah, Qalqilia, and Nablus.
Since October 2023, the Israeli military and settlers have caused 767 fires, including 221 that affected civilian property and 546 that burned agricultural fields. The fires were concentrated in Ramallah and al-Bireh, Nablus, Hebron, and Tulkarm.
The total number of Israeli checkpoints and barriers, including permanent, temporary, and iron gates, reached 916, with more than 243 new gates installed since October 7, 2023. The occupation authorities carried out 1,014 demolition operations, destroying 3,679 Palestinian structures.
In a press conference, Minister Muayyad Shaaban, head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, said that the occupied Palestinian territories have become a laboratory for unprecedented colonial policies over the past two years. He emphasized that confronting this escalating colonial assault is a national responsibility requiring collective action from various sectors. He concluded by saying that popular unity and collective will remain the first line of defense against displacement and annexation.
