Settlements

Palestinian Fawzya Ishreiteh clears burnt belongings in the living and kitchen area of her family house after a reported attack overnight by Israelis from a nearby settlement, in Susya south of Hebron city in the occupied West Bank on June 25, 2025. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence there has soared since the start of the Gaza war in 2023. The West Bank is home to about three million Palestinians, but also some 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under internatio

At least 4 Palestinians killed in West Bank as Israeli settler violence rises: What to know

Israeli settlers stormed a number of Palestinian villages and towns in the West Bank following a string of deadly attacks by settlers and military forces.

(L to R) Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israeli far-right lawmaker and leader of the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish power) party, and Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli far-right lawmaker and leader of the Religious Zionist Party, attend a rally with supporters in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Oct. 26, 2022.

Breaking | Last Updated: June 10, 2025, 12:11 pm

UK, Australia, Canada sanction Israel’s Ben-Gvir, Smotrich for inciting violence

Both far-right Israeli ministers will have their assets frozen and face travel bans.

A Palestinian girl sits amid a makeshift displacement camp set up amid building rubble in Gaza City on May 12, 2025. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 12 that the release of a US-Israeli hostage announced by Hamas would not lead to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip or the release of Palestinian detainees. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP) (Photo by OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu slams France, UK, Canada for asking Israel to 'stop' Gaza war

A sharp exchange between Israel and its Western partners over Gaza policy unfolded Monday, with Netanyahu slamming calls to halt military action just as a new Israeli offensive reportedly killed more than 100 Palestinians in less than two days.

Israeli far-right Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attends a gathering by right-wing activists near the border with Gaza, on Oct. 21, 2024, calling to establish a new Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s Ben-Gvir visits US Monday, set to meet Trump officials: What to know

While avoiding official travel to the US during the Biden administration, Israel's far-right minister is set to embark on a weeklong trip there next week, where he is expected to meet with Trump officials.

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Oscar-winning Palestinian director freed from Israeli detention after night in custody

Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Interview

Amid Israel's rightward shift, left struggles for relevance

Yair Golan in Tel Aviv on Feb. 2, 2025.

Yair Golan

Yair Golan

Chair of the Democrats Party

Why Israel's far right is embracing Trump’s Gaza displacement plan

Israeli soldier and kids use binoculars during a Sukkoth gathering, calling for resettling Gaza with Jewish communities near the border with the Gaza Strip on Oct. 21, 2024 in Southern Border, Israel.

Trump revokes sanctions on Israeli settlers in West Bank: What we know

A car belonging to Palestinian villagers set on fire during clashes after the Israeli settlers stormed the village of Qusra in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday, April 13, 2024. (Photo by Wahaj Bani Moufleh / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by WAHAJ BANI MOUFLEH/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images

US, EU slap sanctions on Israeli Jewish supremacist, extremist settler groups

The European Union and the United States have published new lists of radical Israeli individuals and groups to be sanctioned.

Iranian weapons smuggled into the West Bank captured by Israeli forces, in a handout image published March 25, 2024.

What we know about alleged Iran weapons plot in West Bank

Israel said that Iran’s IRGC was working to smuggle explosives into the Palestinian territory.

This photograph shows the Israeli settlement of Efrata built on the land of the Palestinian town of Al-Khader in the Bethlehem governorate in the occupied West Bank on March 6, 2024.

Breaking | Last Updated: March 14, 2024, 2:59 pm

US sanctions West Bank outposts linked to settler attacks on Palestinians

The sanctions are a response to an uptick in settler violence in the West Bank that the United Nations blames for the deaths of at least nine Palestinians since Oct. 7.

ICJ starts hearing arguments on Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories

Israel has decided not to participate at the hearing, arguing the court has no authority on an issue to be discussed diplomatically between the sides.

This picture shows a view of the West Bank settlement of Har Bracha near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on January 22, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP) (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel to reward new immigrants for settling in periphery, West Bank

Israel's Immigration and Finance Ministries unveiled a new scheme offering economic incentives for immigrants who settle in peripheral northern or southern communities or in the occupied West Bank.

JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

France leads EU in sanctioning violent Israeli settlers

France has become the first European Union member state to enact sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Israeli right wing activists block the exit of Ashdod port to stop trucks they claim are carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, in the coastal city of Ashdod, on February 1, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Photo by Oren ZIV / AFP) (Photo by OREN ZIV/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Undeterred, Israel's far right advocates for settlers' return to occupied Gaza

In preparation for the next elections, the Israeli far right is already campaigning to resettle the Jewish communities evacuated during the 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Mazal Mualem

By Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren arrives to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual policy conference in Washington on March 3, 2013. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

'Multiple clocks' are ticking on Gaza, warns former Israeli ambassador to US

Michael Oren told Al-Monitor that Israel must appreciate the efforts by the Biden administration to support the country and its Gaza military campaign, and urged the Israeli government to curb West Bank settler violence.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Israeli settlers gather on a hill next to the Palestinian town of Halhul, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on June 30, 2020, as they attend a rally against US President Donald Trump's peace plan which might create a Palestinian state and also the Israeli annexation of some parts West Bank.

Breaking | Last Updated: December 5, 2023, 4:29 pm

US announces visa ban policy for Israel's extremist West Bank settlers

The US visa restrictions come as the United Nations and rights groups have documented an uptick in settler violence against West Bank Palestinians since Oct. 7.

People pass a pro-Palestinian mural on the Republican Falls Road in Belfast on October 23, 2023. Northern Ireland may be thousands of miles from the Middle East but signs of the current heightened conflict can be seen on the streets of the British province. Palestinian and Israeli flags flutter in pro-Irish and pro-UK neighbourhoods in Northern Ireland, tapping into its own history of conflict and division that still affects everyday life despite a 1998 peace deal that largely ended violence. (Photo by Paul

Analysis

Israel-Ireland relations take another dive over Gaza war, PM statements

Israel's Foreign Ministry has summoned Ireland's ambassador over Prime Minister Leo Varadkar saying that nine-year-old hostage Emily Hand was "lost and found" when she was freed from Hamas captivity.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

A child mourns over the body of one of five people killed in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin during an overnight Israeli incursion, at the morgue of a hospital on November 26, 2023. Five people were killed by Israeli army fire in Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said, during an incursion by a large number of armoured vehicles into the city, which was recently the scene of the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in almost 20 years. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP via Get

Two Palestinian children killed in Israeli raid in Jenin as West Bank tensions soar

The truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has not calmed the situation in the West Bank with at least 240 Palestinians killed since Oct. 7.

Israeli soldiers stand guard as police check a car damaged in a reported ramming attack at the Bell checkpoint near the settlement of Beit Horon, on the occupied West Bank, east of the central Israeli city of Modiin, November 2, 2022.

Israeli-Palestinian tensions rise with fresh attacks in Jerusalem, West Bank

With tensions high in Israeli and the West Bank following attacks against Israelis, Hamas is threatening to launch protests on the Israel-Gaza border.