TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / August 23, 2026
Israel now controls 42 percent of the occupied West Bank, as settlement expansion, settler attacks and military raids intensify across Palestinian communities.
The number of illegal Jewish settlements and settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank has reached 592, as Israeli control now extends over approximately 42 percent of the territory, according to new Palestinian figures.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said that, as of the end of July, approximately 780,000 Jewish settlers were living throughout the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Of these, around 333,600 live in settlements in occupied Jerusalem, while approximately 446,400 live elsewhere in the West Bank.
The settlers are distributed across 192 settlements and 400 settlement outposts, including 231 pastoral outposts, according to the Commission.
All Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law.
The Commission said official Israeli orders indicate that Israel now exercises control over approximately 42 percent of the West Bank’s 5,660 square kilometers.
The level of control is considerably higher in strategically important areas.
According to the Commission, Israel controls 71 percent of Area C and as much as 91 percent of the Palestinian Jordan Valley.
Area C accounts for approximately 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and was placed under full Israeli civil and security control under the Oslo II agreement, pending arrangements that were supposed to be temporary.
Settler attacks across West Bank
The figures emerged amid another wave of settler attacks against Palestinian communities, homes and agricultural land overnight and early Sunday.
In Usarin, south of Nablus, settlers set fire to a residential structure belonging to Palestinian Asir Bani Jaber, partially burned a vehicle and sprayed racist slogans at the scene.
In Jalud, southeast of Nablus, settlers entered the outskirts of the village under Israeli military protection and reportedly fired live ammunition toward Palestinian homes and threw stones, triggering confrontations with residents.
Armed settlers also attacked Palestinian farmers and shepherds in Zanuta and Umm al-Khair, in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.
According to local reports, the settlers forced them from their land at gunpoint and released livestock into cultivated fields, damaging crops.
In Al-Mazraa al-Gharbiya, north of Ramallah, settlers damaged olive trees and prevented farmers from accessing their land.
Further attacks were reported in Khalayel al-Louz, east of Bethlehem, where irrigation pipes and trees were damaged; near Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, where Palestinian property was reportedly stolen; and in Burqa, east of Ramallah, where settlers burned a tent, equipment and food belonging to a Palestinian farmer.
new outpost in Jordan Valley
Meanwhile, settlers reportedly seized additional grazing land near Ein al-Hilweh in the northern Jordan Valley, erecting tents and fences in preparation for establishing a new settlement outpost.
The move prevented Palestinian shepherds from reaching grazing areas, according to Quds News Network.
Pastoral outposts have increasingly become a mechanism for extending settler control across large areas of Palestinian agricultural and grazing land.
Israeli occupation forces simultaneously carried out widespread raids across the West Bank early Sunday, detaining Palestinians and searching homes in several governorates.
In Al-Amari refugee camp, south of Al-Bireh, Israeli soldiers raided homes and severely beat two young Palestinian men, leaving them injured.
Raids were also reported in Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Nablus and Hebron.
Israeli forces arrested Palestinians in Yabad and Deir Ghazaleh in the Jenin governorate, while four Palestinians were detained during raids in Zeita and Allar, north of Tulkarem.
Six young men were reportedly detained in Qalqilya.
In the Nablus governorate, Israeli forces detained two former Palestinian prisoners, Suhaib Abu Thabet from Beit Dajan and Odeh Subaih Hamayel from Beita.
Further arrests were reported around Hebron, including three Palestinians from Sair and Ibrahim al-Nawajaa, who was detained while grazing livestock near his home in Khirbet Wadi Jahish, southeast of Yatta.
Israeli forces also closed roads and erected military checkpoints around Palestinian communities, including the western entrance to Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah.
Manhunt after stabbing near Al-Auja
The Jordan Valley also saw a major Israeli military deployment on Sunday after an Israeli settler was injured in a stabbing operation near Al-Auja, north of Jericho.
Israeli police said the stabbing occurred near the village, while Israeli Army Radio reported that the attack took place outside a shop on Route 90.
The suspected attacker reportedly withdrew from the scene.
Israeli forces subsequently deployed large numbers of troops throughout the area, including special forces, while the Israeli Air Force was reportedly mobilized to assist the search.
The military also sealed off Al-Auja and its surroundings, established checkpoints and launched search operations for the suspected attacker.
The operation unfolded in the same Jordan Valley where Palestinian authorities say Israeli control has now reached 91 percent.
(TPC, Anadolu, QNN)
