West Bank29 August, 20263 min read
Israeli Occupiers Set 799 of 900 Fires Targeting Palestinian Homes in West Bank Since 2023
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900 fires targeted Palestinian property in the West Bank since 2023. Settlers responsible for 799 fires (about 89%), Israeli army 101 (11%).
Fires and attribution
A Palestinian commission said Israeli occupiers were responsible for nearly 89% of fires targeting Palestinian homes, buildings and vehicles in the occupied West Bank since the start of 2023, and it said it documented 900 fires between January 2023 and July 10, 2026. The commission said occupiers were responsible for 799 of the fires, or 88.8%, while the remaining 101 were attributed to the Israeli army, and it reported that the number of recorded fires rose from 217 in 2023 to 264 in 2024 and to 307 in 2025.
It said the commission documented 112 fires between the start of 2026 and July 10, and it reported that Nablus and the Ramallah and al-Bireh governorates were the most affected, with 281 and 271 fires respectively. Together, it said those two governorates accounted for 552 incidents, or about 61.3% of all cases documented by the commission, and it described the attacks as part of a “government environment of enablement” that protects occupiers and contributes to impunity.
Displacement and displacement figures
The commission said the same period also saw 121 Palestinian communities fully or partially displaced, including 46 that were completely emptied, forcing more than 6,200 Palestinians from their homes, including over 3,000 children. It said the report attributed the escalation to what it called a “government environment of enablement” that protects occupiers and contributes to impunity, and it warned that illegal settlement outposts have increasingly become launching points for attacks involving arson, road closures and restrictions on Palestinians’ access to their land and water sources.
An Anadolu Agency report similarly said the commission documented 900 fires targeting homes, facilities, and vehicles belonging to Palestinians between January 2023 and July 10, 2026, and it said the same period saw the displacement of 121 Palestinian communities, either entirely or partially. That Anadolu report added that the displacement included 46 communities evacuated completely, resulting in the displacement of more than 6,200 Palestinians, including more than 3,000 children, and it said the attacks occur within a “government-enabled environment” that provides protection for settlers and contributes to their impunity.
Context of raids and settler attacks
Alongside the commission’s fire figures, the Palestine Chronicle described Israeli occupation forces conducting raids across the Al-Amari refugee camp in Al-Bireh, where it said a 15-year-old child was struck by live ammunition in the back and a young Palestinian man was shot in the foot. The Palestine Chronicle said Red Crescent crews treated both at the scene before transferring them to hospital, and it reported that Israeli occupation forces detained Amir Shehab and Muhammad Khalaf during the raid on the camp.
In the same broader West Bank context, the Palestine Chronicle said illegal settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles near Tuqu’ and along surrounding roads in the Bethlehem governorate, injuring a Palestinian and damaging several vehicles, and it said Israeli occupation forces simultaneously closed entrances to the governorate and erected barriers and concrete blocks. It also reported that in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, Jewish settlers attacked two Palestinian women while they were on their farmland, and it said in Khirbet al-Homs in Masafer Yatta, settlers released livestock around Palestinian homes.