Washington Post journalist hospitalized after Israeli settler attack in West Bank

An American photojournalist for The Washington Post was hospitalized in Ramallah on Friday after Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villagers gathering for the annual olive harvest in the occupied West Bank. Heidi Levine, a photographer for the newspaper, was wearing a protective vest marked “PRESS” on the front and back when masked settlers knocked her to the ground and repeatedly kicked her. Levine, 64, said the group that attacked her and the olive harvesters consisted of at least 50 masked men armed with slingshots. “When they came running down, I was attacked, pushed to the ground,” Levine said in a video from her hospital bed. “They just kept kicking me and kicking me, probably 50 times,” she recounted. “And then after 10 minutes, they tried to get me to stand up and then they pushed me down again and continued to kick me.” The settlers also took her cameras and phone, she said. Severe settler + soldier attack on olive harvesters in Abu Falah. American WaPo journalist Heidi Levine badly wounded. Machine gunfire—at least one Palestinian shot. Tear gas. Soldiers assaulting journalists. pic.twitter.com/He61cNYk0c — jasper nathaniel (@infinite_jaz) October 16, 2026 The assault took place near Abu Falah, a Palestinian village northeast of Ramallah. Settlers reportedly used slingshots to fire stones at the olive harvesters, and they also set fire to the groves. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it treated three Palestinians injured in the attack. Two, a 63-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man, were taken to the hospital after being beaten, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. The third person, a man, was shot in the thigh, WAFA reported. In a statement on X, Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray said, “We are outraged by this unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job and urge a thorough investigation and follow through from authorities.” pic.twitter.com/vx8NvLtaDf — Washington Post Communications (@WashPostComms) October 16, 2026 American journalist Jasper Nathaniel, also at the scene of the attack, published videos of the incident on X and said that the Israeli military “provided cover, with tear gas and machine guns,” for the settlers and later “shot a Palestinian bystander, and aimed their guns and shoved the paramedics who were trying to treat him.” The Israeli military acknowledged the attack but said its “forces acted to disperse the confrontation using riot dispersal means.” It also claimed that they “initially fired warning shots into the air and then fired toward a suspect who ran toward them, carrying a sharp object and posed a threat to them.” “All details of the incident will be examined,” the military said, adding that it “strongly condemns this incident.” In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned violence against journalists but questioned the accounts of the confrontation and said an investigation must determine who initiated the violence. “Reports indicate some 200 Arabs and far-left activists confronted approximately 40 Israeli youths. Footage shows masked individuals on both sides hurling objects, amid reports of fireworks fired at Jewish youths. Other footage appears to show Levine knocked down and immediately helped to her feet by the same unidentified individual,” the statement read. He also warned against using the incident to “demonize” Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The attack in Abu Falah was one among several such incidents targeting Palestinian olive harvesters across the West Bank on Friday. In the village of Burqa, a settler assault left four Palestinians injured, and in the town of Beita, settlers injured two others, according to WAFA. The attack on Levine comes just 10 days after armed Israeli settlers beat Jaafar Ashtiyeh, a 58-year-old veteran Palestinian photojournalist for Agence France-Presse, in the West Bank village of Aqraba. The recent assaults are part of a surge in settler violence across the West Bank that has further intensified during the olive harvest. The Israeli rights monitoring group Yesh Din reported on Friday that from September 27 to October 14, it had documented 486 incidents of settler and soldier violence on the West Bank, including 234 attacks directly related to the harvest. According to the United Nations, roughly 80,000 to 100,000 Palestinian families in the West Bank rely on the olive harvest for their primary or secondary source of income. Israeli authorities have faced longstanding criticism for failing to hold settlers accountable for attacking Palestinians. Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly denounced settler violence, rights groups say the assaults continue with little effective intervention or punishment.