After Israel announced a “complete siege” of Gaza in response to the October 7 attacks by Hamas, tensions are mounting in the West Bank, where Palestinians have been killed in confrontations with both Israeli forces and settlers.
West Bank is the Palestinian territory west of the Jordan River that sits adjacent to Israel and Jordan. Residents hope the territory will form part of a future Palestinian state. But since Israel took control and occupied the West Bank in 1967 from Jordan following the Six-Day War, it has been settled by Israeli civilians, often under military protection. Most of the world considers these settlements illegal under international law, but despite this successive Israeli governments have pledged support for them.
Take a look at where West Bank is located:
Some context: Israel views the West Bank as “disputed territory,” and contends its settlement policy is legal. This year, following the election of the most right-wing, extremist government in Israeli history under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, violence between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank flared.
As of mid-September this year, the United Nations had reported 798 settler-related incidents in the occupied territory, leading to 216 Palestinians injured. In the same period, Israeli forces killed 179 Palestinians in the West Bank.
The Israel Defense Forces says most are terror suspects or people engaging violently with its troops during raids, but does not offer evidence in every case for this assertion.
Settlers have long been accused of carrying out acts of violence against Palestinians. As well as killings, these attacks have included incidents of physical assault, property damage and harassment.
Hani Odeh, the mayor of a small village in the territory called Qusra, insisted their aim is to drive Palestinians from their home and ultimately from the occupied West Bank.
CNN’s Abeer Salman and Celine Alkhaldi contributed to this report.
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