Palestinian farmers face surge in settler attacks as olive harvest draws to a close
The United Nations’ deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq, told reporters on Friday that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has logged more than 200 incidents of Israeli settlers attacking Palestinian farmers since the start of September, a figure that already exceeds the 185 attacks recorded for the entire 2025 harvest season. The violence has resulted in one Palestinian death, injuries to more than 120 people and damage to over 2,500 olive trees. The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission reported 34 attacks on Friday that left at least 19 people wounded, and a further 40 incidents on Saturday.
Religious leaders have openly encouraged the aggression. Rabbi Dov Lior, spiritual adviser to National Security Minister Itamar Ben‑Gvir’s Jewish Power party, declared that settlers are allowed to harvest olives from Palestinian groves, saying, “Jews are permitted to harvest olives even in areas far from Jewish settlements in order to publicly demonstrate our ownership of the land and thereby fulfill the commandment of conquering the land.” A settler chat group posted that “an olive tree today is more significant in the campaign for Judea and Samaria than an M16 rifle.” Sarit Michaeli, former international advocacy director of the Israeli human‑rights organization B’Tselem, described the theft of the Palestinian olive crop as “on a scale never seen before in my 22‑year history of working on this issue.”
Dozens of attacks on harvesters have been reported daily. On 16 October, in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, around 80 masked settlers armed with clubs rushed at Palestinians gathering olives. Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, 63, was knocked down and beaten for more than ten minutes, according to video footage and her own account. She suffered broken ribs, required hand surgery, and had her camera, phone and passport stolen. Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak said soldiers later shot village council member Abdel Jaber Obeid in the thigh.
The following day, masked settlers with clubs assaulted a delegation traveling to Taybeh, east of Ramallah. The group included Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats and church representatives. A window of a Belgian consulate vehicle was shattered, and French mayor Bernard Baudoux, 78, was kicked and beaten.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was “very disturbed” by the incidents, and U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee called the attack on Levine “a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards.” France demanded arrests, while the European Union said it expects “full accountability.” Israel’s military described the Taybeh assault as “severe,” and Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, labeled the settler violence “Jewish terror under the auspices of the government of Israel,” according to The Times of Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office offered a conditional condemnation of Levine’s beating, noting that questions remain about who started the violence, and after the Taybeh attack said “the more serious the accusation, the stronger the evidence required.”
On Monday, police and the Shin Bet intelligence service launched “Operation Olive Leaf,” arresting ten Israelis in raids near Ofra and Shiloh in connection with the attacks on foreign journalists and diplomats. No further arrests have been announced for the many other settler assaults reported over the weekend.
Other incidents this week included the beating of two women in Beit Lid, the injury of an American citizen, Haytham Tayseer, in Burqa with deep head wounds, and the wounding of six people, including four women and a child, in Ma’in, Masafer Yatta, according to the Red Crescent. Settlers set fire to four vehicles in Turmus Aya, including a civil‑defence vehicle, and torched a mosque in Mikhmas, as reported by the Palestinian news agency WAFA. In Kafr Malek, settlers killed about 20 sheep, uprooted hundreds of olive trees with bulldozers and, in nearby Kisan close to Bethlehem, cut down 120 olive trees, also reported by WAFA.
In Gaza, the humanitarian crisis is deepening. Israel announced on 14 October that no commercial goods would be allowed into the enclave, blaming a dispute between merchants and Hamas over a 10,000‑shekel per‑truck fee. Gaza’s Government Media Office called the claim a “blatant disinformation campaign,” saying the fee was a voluntary contribution for widows and orphans. By Sunday, basic food prices had surged, with a carton of eggs rising from 35 shekels to between 60 and 70 shekels, and a sack of flour climbing from 25‑35 shekels to about 80 shekels.