“They shoot to kill”: Settler violence in the West Bank

While the world turns its attention to the regional conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran, Israeli forces have been intensifying their military operations across the West Bank. Most checkpoints remain closed, which means for most people normal daily activities are now even more time consuming, at times impossible, and carry the risk of injury or death from unprovoked Israeli attacks. Violence by Israeli settlers has also increased, with residents reporting settlers entering Palestinian villages and farmland while openly carrying weapons, and attacking Palestinians in their cars.

“The settler attacks have grown more brutal and deadly,” adds Sari. “Most of them are armed nowadays and they shoot to kill.”

Israeli forces increase West Bank military operations amid regional conflict

In recent weeks, the dramatic escalation of conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran has added another layer of violence and fear across Palestine. 

“When the sirens start, we gather in the hallway of our home, away from the windows,” says Yasmin Mohammad, MSF community health worker in Hebron. “In the distance, explosions echo across the hills as interceptors strike projectiles.”

Unlike in Israeli towns and cities, where shelters and warning systems are widespread, most Palestinians in the West Bank have no access to shelters or protected spaces. When debris falls, families have little choice but to stay inside and hope.

“We feel the space in which we can live, move, and build our lives around is shrinking — while the world looks elsewhere,” says Yasmin.

Violence and fear shape life in the West Bank

Between October 7, 2023, and March 7, 2026, 1,071 Palestinians, including 233 children, have been killed in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, according to OCHA. Eleven have been killed by settlers this year alone. “It is shocking and deeply disturbing,” says Salam Yousef, an MSF staff member in the West Bank.

“They attack and kill people without consequences – it feels like there is no justice for us, like our lives don’t count,” says Salam. “Last week, they [Israeli forces] shot a family of six who were driving home. Only two of the sons survived. They are orphans now — their family was killed in front of them; their brothers were 7 and 5 years old.”

The widespread and multilayered violence has reshaped life for Palestinians, as a sense of existential threat captures the broader reality unfolding across the West Bank. “These developments feel like more than a series of isolated incidents,” says Salam. “It is a slow but significant transformation — step by step, Israeli forces and settlers are taking over. It is frightening because we have no control and the world doesn’t seem to care about what happens to us.”

“If the world continues to look away, the shrinking of Palestinian land will not stop,” adds Salam. “It will simply continue — checkpoint by checkpoint, road by road, house by house — until a reality that once seemed temporary becomes permanent.”

Lives and dreams put on hold

“The psychological toll of this environment is immense,” says Elsa Salvatore, MSF psychotherapist in Nablus. “It’s not only about physical violence from settler attacks or what happens at checkpoints. In our sessions, people often speak about the humiliation they experience daily and the constant uncertainty. They become hyper-vigilant, unable to sleep, always expecting something bad to happen.”

“Most people have stopped making plans,” she continues. “Many suffer from symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — although PTSD does not correctly describe it, because they are not ‘post’ traumatic experience. They are still in it, continuously experiencing trauma and uncertainty.”

As violence, insecurity, and restrictions on daily life become increasingly widespread across the West Bank, it is vital that people have access to health care. But in reality, access to medical care remains blocked or severely obstructed. 

In certain regions, like Masafer Yatta, located south of Hebron, NGOs are blocked from providing essential humanitarian support, as large parts of the area are designated as a military zone and Israeli forces heavily restrict movement. Consequently, MSF has had to reduce the number of our mobile clinics in the area from 17 to just five since September 2025. Patients are being cut off from even the most basic medical services. 

“We feel abandoned and forgotten,” says a resident from Masafer Yatta. “There is no one coming to us anymore. When we get sick, we have no choice but to walk for miles. Sometimes we just stay and endure the pain.” 

Greater needs require more access, not less 

Israel’s restrictive new rules threaten to drastically reduce this already insufficient aid. MSF is one of 37 NGOs whose registration was not renewed by the Israeli authorities as of March 1, 2026, and our international staff had to leave Palestine, including both Gaza and the West Bank. While our Palestinian colleagues continue to provide health care, the future of our projects in the occupied territories is uncertain. In Nablus, Jenin, and Tulkarem, our activities have also been significantly reduced due to both security concerns and new administrative obstacles imposed since March 1.

“I’m scared and feel hopeless at the thought that MSF’s services could cease to exist,” says one of MSF’s mental health patients in Nablus.

Our teams do their best to provide remote psychosocial sessions online, but this does not allow for the same support as in-person care. It especially doesn’t work for survivors of sexual violence, families of low socioeconomic status with telecommunication barriers, and patients with chronic psychiatric conditions, such as psychosis. 

Access to health care is a fundamental human need and a cornerstone of community resilience. When health care systems become fragmented, preventive care declines, chronic illnesses worsen, and communities grow more vulnerable. Amid the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe across Palestine, MSF will continue to provide health care for as long as possible, doing as much as we can. 

What is unfolding in the West Bank today is not inevitable, nor is it invisible. International humanitarian law is clear: As the occupying power, Israel has a legal responsibility to ensure the protection of civilians and to facilitate access to essential medical care. The reality is anything but that. Living conditions for Palestinians in the West Bank are dangerous and blatantly inhumane. “We just want to live safely, raise our children without fear, and be treated with dignity,” says Salam.