Yaniv Kubovich
Haaretz / January 12, 2026
The IDF has expressed concern over the trend’s impact on regional stability and doubts the Israel Police’s efficacy in curbing the violence. The escalation, marked by a 25 percent increase in 2025 over the previous year, is linked to the rapid expansion of West Bank farms.
The number of incidents of nationalist crimes committed by Jews against Palestinians in the West Bank has risen continuously and sharply since October 7, 2023, with a total of 1,720 such incidents recorded in that time, according to data from the Israeli defense establishment.
The trend, which worries the IDF and undermines security and stability in the area, does not receive an adequate response on the part of the Israel Police and Shin Bet security service against the lawbreakers.
The increase in the number of incidents has led senior IDF commanders to cast doubt on the police’s ability to handle the situation. The IDF is also warning that a continuation of the attacks could require the army to divert large numbers of both regular army and reserve troops to the region.
Figures from the defense establishment show that in 2025, 845 incidents of nationalist crimes committed by Jewish settlers were recorded, in which 200 people were injured and four were killed. This data points to a rise of about 25 percent in the number of such incidents compared to 2024, when 675 such cases were reported, and 149 Palestinians were injured and six were killed.
In the first half of 2024, 317 incidents of nationalist violence were reported, and in the second half of the year the number was 358. In 2025 the numbers rose even further, with 440 such incidents recorded in the first half of last year – an increase of 39 percent from the same period of the previous year – and 405 incidents reported in the second half of the year.
In June 2025, 100 incidents of nationalist crimes were reported, compared to only 67 such incidents the previous year – a jump of about 50 percent. Defense officials said this is not an exceptional or one-off number, but a new peak of an ongoing trend that started at the beginning of the war.
The army says that the increase is not due merely to more incidents by individuals, but is the result of larger and organized groups that receive support from politicians and well-known right-wing activists. This contradicts claims made by politicians and representatives of the Jewish settlements.
The violence is concentrated in several main sectors. In 2025, the Nablus sector was the leader with about a third of the incidents, followed by Ramallah and Hebron, with each sector having about 19 percent of the events.
In Ramallah the number of incidents stands out, with 38 such incidents occurring in June, which made up 38 percent of all the nationalist crimes incidents in that same month – the highest percentage recorded there since the beginning of the war.
The IDF found a direct relationship between the rise in the amount of such crimes and the accelerated expansion of the farms in the West Bank, where violent young people who are leading the attacks live. Since October 7, some 90 new farms have been established, and the total number has climbed from about 30 before the war to over 120 today.
“Anyone who ignores the establishment of almost 100 new farms since the beginning of the war should not be surprised by the rise in incidents of nationalist friction and crime,” said a senior defense official.
Defense officials have severely criticized the police and Shin Bet, too, and say they are not using adequate tools to stop the incidents. “The gap between the severity of the data and the enforcement in practice is widening,” said a senior officer. “These incidents not only hurt the Palestinians, they are eroding the IDF’s operational capabilities, complicate the security situation and are bringing the area closer to a real risk of broader [violent] escalation,” he added.
