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Violence Data Up Sharply
Israeli security data released on Monday showed a 63% increase in nationalist crime in the West Bank during the first half of 2026 compared with the same period in the previous year, with 660 incidents recorded in the first half of 2026 versus 405 in the second half of 2025 and 440 in the first half of 2025.
“a significant 63% increase in nationalist crime in the West Bank during the first half of 2026”
The report said deliberate attacks against security forces rose to 45 incidents in the first half of 2026 from 30 in the second half of 2025, a 50% increase in violence directed at security personnel.
It also reported Palestinian casualties rising, with 140 Palestinians wounded and six killed during the first half of the year compared with 82 wounded and no fatalities during the previous six months.
The figures mentioned do not account for incidents recorded in July, and the report said around 100 additional incidents of nationalist crime were reported in July alone.
The data was released as the IDF increased deployment across the West Bank to 26 battalions, adding two battalions after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s order to increase troop deployments, additional checkpoints, and expanded counterterrorism operations.
Siege Traps Family
In the West Bank, settlers surrounded the home of a Palestinian family on the outskirts of the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, preventing the family from entering or leaving since Sunday, residents said.
Youssef Hassan, the homeowner, told The Times of Israel by phone on Monday that settlers erected a makeshift structure in front of the entrance a day earlier and had since prevented anyone from entering or leaving, leaving him trapped inside.
Hassan said the settlers also cut the electricity lines, and on Tuesday he said the family was running out of food and that his two-year-old daughter needed to see a doctor.
Doron Meinert, of the group “Looking the Occupation in the Eye,” said in a statement that the family was “trapped in their home, with a violent and armed settler militia threatening them, with the aim of pressuring them to abandon the house.”
The Times of Israel reported that Haaretz said settlers blocked journalists from reaching the area, and soldiers were filmed preventing a Palestinian ambulance carrying a foreign journalist from approaching the family’s home.
Calls of Terror, Accountability
In parallel with the reported rise in nationalist crime, Al Jazeera quoted Israeli Knesset member Ofer Cassif saying settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have amounted to “state terrorism” as it’s “encouraged and financed by the government.”
“amounted to ‘state terrorism’ as it’s ‘encouraged and financed by the government’”
Cassif’s characterization was presented in Al Jazeera’s framing of Israeli settler violence as “clear state terrorism,” tying the attacks to government backing.
The Jerusalem Post report also included comments from Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander from Ohr Torah Stone, who said, “This violence committed by Jewish extremists is deeply disturbing and demands a clear moral response from Jewish and Israeli leadership.”
Brander added that there is “no justification, religious or otherwise, for attacking innocent people because of their identity,” and he said such acts “violate the most fundamental principles of Jewish law.”
Haaretz published a piece headlined “Is Israelis Are Finally Troubled by Settler Violence. Are They Too Late?” describing that most Israelis were now talking openly about settler violence against Palestinians as a large-scale problem demanding correction by authorities.
