Settlers Attack Palestinian Olive Harvesters in the West Bank

Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinians picking olives in the occupied West Bank this month, and Palestinian farmers say settler attacks and olive thefts have stepped up in 2026 as the annual harvest began. Settlers are Israeli civilians living in communities in the territory. Reuters reported that settlers also stole Palestinians' olives during this year's harvest.

In October, dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians while they were picking olives, according to The New York Times. Reuters reported that dozens of militant settlers, a term Reuters used in its report, burned olive trees in a coordinated attack. In the same attack, the agency reported, settlers threw rocks at Palestinians and a journalist was injured.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which tracks conditions in the territory, documented 199 olive-harvest-related settler attacks between 1 September and 12 October 2026. One Palestinian was killed in those attacks, OCHA reported.

For the 2025 harvest season, OCHA documented 150 olive-harvest-related settler attacks against Palestinians between 1 October and 3 November 2025, according to an earlier OCHA update.

The toll is not only physical. A Palestinian grove owner, the New York Times reported, had been unable to harvest olives since October 2023 because of fear.