UNRWA says October ‘on track to be the most violent month’ since it began tracking settler violence in 2013.Published On 1 Nov 20251 Nov 2025Click here to share on social mediashare2ShareIsraeli settlers have carried out more attacks against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, as the United Nations warned that this year’s olive harvest is on track to be the most violent in more than a decade.The Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported several incidents of settler violence on Saturday, including in fields close to the towns of Beita and Huwara, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and in Sinjil, a town near Ramallah.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThree Palestinian farmers also were wounded in al-Maniya, southeast of Bethlehem, after Israeli settlers opened fire on them as they were harvesting their olives.Palestinians in the West Bank have experienced a surge in settler and military attacks since Israel launched its Gaza war in 2023. But this year’s olive harvest season, which began last month, has brought an even greater increase in violent incidents.The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Saturday that October “is on track to be the most violent month since UNRWA began tracking settler violence in 2013”.“The annual olive harvest is the primary livelihood for tens of thousands of Palestinians, with olive trees deeply rooted in Palestinian heritage and identity,” Roland Friedrich, director of UNRWA affairs in the West Bank, said in a statement shared on social media.“Attacks on the olive harvest threaten the very way of life for many Palestinians and further deepen the coercive environment in the occupied West Bank,” Friedrich said. “Families should be allowed unhindered access to their lands to harvest their olives in safe conditions.” Advertisement According to the latest UN figures, released on Thursday, at least 126 Israeli settler attacks have been recorded in 70 Palestinian towns and villages so far this olive harvest season.More than 4,000 olive trees and saplings also have been vandalised, the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) found.Meanwhile, OCHA said that the expan …
