Israeli forces and settlers have continued to carry out raids and attacks against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank [Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images]
Israeli settler attacks in the occupied West Bank have injured several Palestinians and vandalised farmland as 2025 looks to be another hostile year for the West Bank’s Palestinian population.
A settler attack on the village of Yatma, south of Nablus, on Saturday saw confrontations between settlers and residents, with the intervention of Israeli soldiers leading to the use of tear gas and gunfire against residents, with one Palestinian being shot and injured by Israeli soldiers, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The Israeli military was quoted by Times of Israel as saying that Israeli soldiers and border police deployed to Yatma after reports of a “violent confrontation” and is investigating the shooting.
In addition to the attack on Yatma, several other incidents were reported by Wafa across the West Bank.
This includes the storming of Hebron’s old city by armed settlers under the protection of Israeli soldiers, and a settler raid against the village of Yurus Ayya north of Ramallah which led to three Palestinians being injured by rubber bullets fired by Israeli soldiers.
In the village of Kisan, east of Bethlehem, 30 Israeli settlers attacked farming infrastructure, burning tents and livestock shelters, and assaulting Palestinian farmers.
The attacks across the West Bank are a continuation of increased violence by settlers in the occupied territory, with the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) saying that 2024 marks the highest number of settler related incidents in the West Bank since the office began keeping records nearly two decades ago.
For the first week of 2025 OCHA reported that 18 Palestinians were wounded in attacks by settlers.
Alongside renewed attacks in the West Bank, Israeli settlers have reportedly erected billboards across the occupied West Bank warning that there is no future for Palestinians in the territory.
The billboards, several of which have gone up in recent months according to Times of Israel, read “no future in Palestine” accompanied by an image of displaced persons among the rubble of war-torn Gaza.
Mauricio Lapchik, the Director of External Relations at Israeli peace organisation Peace Now, told The New Arab that the billboards were an open display of Israeli government’s agenda: “The annexation of the occupied territories and the establishment of an apartheid state, stretching from the river to the sea.”
In November, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced intentions for the government to annex the occupied West Bank in 2025. Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is illegal under international law, with the International Court of Justice issuing an advisory ruling on the matter in 2024.Â
“These billboards may seem minor, they pale in comparison to the unprecedented number of illegal settlements and outposts established in the past year, the escalation of settler terrorism, and massive land grabs” Lapchik said.
Yet, “the message on the billboards is clear and accurate: under this government, there is no future for Palestine, no future for Israel, and no future for anyone in this region,” he added.
