RAMALLAH / Qais Abu Samra / Anadolu

The Palestinian Commission of Resistance to the Wall and Settlements said on Thursday that 20 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, in attacks by Israeli settlers since the start of 2026, the highest toll recorded in recent years.

The commission, which is affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization, added in a statement that reached Anadolu that the number of Palestinians killed by settlers rose from 11 in 2024 to 14 in 2025, before reaching 20 since the beginning of this year, reflecting an 'unprecedented escalation' in settler attacks.

According to the commission, Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate (central) topped the casualty count with 12 dead, followed by Nablus (north) with three dead, then Hebron (south) and Jerusalem (central) with two dead each, and Salfit (north) with one dead.

It explained that gunfire was the main method of killing, with 16 Palestinians shot dead, while two were killed as a result of assault and pursuit, another died from inhaling gas, and another from a heart attack during a settler attack.

The commission considered that these figures 'reflect the escalation of attacks, especially in areas adjacent to pastoral settlement outposts and settlement roads, as part of attempts to impose new facts on the ground through violence.'

Since the beginning of the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip on October 8, 2023, the Israeli army and settlers have intensified their attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank.

On Monday, the Israeli human rights center B'Tselem said that settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are an example of Israel encouraging 'ethnic cleansing' against the Palestinian people.

The attacks include killing, arrests, vandalizing and demolishing homes, leveling agricultural lands, preventing farmers from accessing them, displacing Palestinians, and expanding settlements on their lands.

Palestinians warn that Israel is paving the way with these attacks to formally annex the West Bank, undermining the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state as stipulated in UN resolutions.

In 1948, Israel was established on Palestinian land occupied by armed Zionist militias that committed massacres and caused the displacement of at least 750,000 Palestinians, before occupying the rest of the land.