Israeli settlers violence surges amid West Bank olive harvest
RAMALLAH
Olive harvest of Palestinians continue despite Israelis, seizing Palestinian land, conduct attacks under the protection of Israeli soldiers, in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah, West Bank, on Oct. 20, 2025.
Israeli settlers descended on Palestinian olive harvesters and activists this week in the occupied West Bank, beating them with clubs.
The attack in the town of Turmus Ayya, which was captured in videos, came as Palestinians say settler violence in the region is worsening.
“Settler violence has skyrocketed in scale and frequency," Ajith Sunghay, the head of the U.N. Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territory, said in a statement.
“Two weeks into the start of the 2025 harvest, we have already seen severe attacks by armed settlers against Palestinian men, women, children and foreign solidarity activists."
In one of the videos, a masked man was seen running through an olive grove and beating at least two people with a club, including a woman as she lay motionless on the ground.
The masked man appeared to be wearing tzitzit, a ritual fringed garment for Jews. The woman was hospitalized with serious injures.
In a separate video, more than a dozen masked men were seen running down a village road alongside an olive grove, pursuing a car. One settler clubbed the car and opened the door.
A third video showed flames and smoke rising from several torched cars.
The first week of olive harvest season has seen more than 150 settler attacks and over 700 olive trees uprooted, broken or poisoned, according to Muayyad Shaaban, who headsan office in the Palestinian Authority that is tracking the violence.
Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin said also said this week that he had ordered the deportation of 32 foreign activists who had helped Palestinians harvest olives in the occupied West Bank, on the grounds they violated a military order.
The violence came as Israeli lawmakers on Oct. 22 advanced two bills paving the way for West Bank annexation, leading to condemnation from Washington.
