While Israeli and international attention remains focused on the ongoing U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, the past few weeks have seen an escalation of ongoing trends in the West Bank. Reduced international and domestic scrutiny and heightened restrictions on Palestinian movement have combined to create a more permissive environment for settler violence. This trend is unfolding alongside continued government efforts to expand and entrench Israel’s civilian presence in the West Bank, including the advancement of new settlements, legalization of outposts, and steps to consolidate control over land in Area C.
Movement restrictions
Since February 28, Israeli authorities have expanded closures and erected additional roadblocks across the West Bank, limiting movement between major population centers. These measures carry a plausible security rationale: reducing the IDF’s operational burden in the territory while resources are diverted to other fronts. However, they have also had deleterious secondary effects. Movement restrictions have left Palestinian communities more exposed to attacks and have impeded Palestinian ambulances and other emergency services, while settlers’ mobility has largely remained unaffected.
On March 15, the IDF’s stepped-up security measures in the West Bank led to the tragic killing of Palestinian civilians by IDF forces in the West Bank that generated international media attention when a group of IDF soldiers and Border Police, reportedly on an arrest mission, shot at a Palestinian family’s vehicle driving near Tammun. IDF fire killed both parents and two of their sons while injuring the two others. Beyond the troops “sensing danger” and reporting that the vehicle had accelerated toward them, there appears to have been no real threat justifying the attack on the family.
Religious access restrictions
Israel has closed Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan as an emergency security measure amid the Iran war, given that the site typically attracts large crowds that could be prone to unrest. Yet given the significance of the site during Ramadan for Palestinian society, its closure has generated resentment both across the Palestinian arena and the wider Muslim world.
Attacks against Palestinians
This period has also seen a notable increase in Israeli settler violence, which has already been on the rise since October 7, 2023. Yesh Din reported 109 incidents of settler violence during the first 10 days of the war, and according to the West Bank’s health ministry, six Palestinians have been killed by settlers over the month of March. Notable incidents include a raid on Khirbet Humsa al-Fawqa by 20 masked settlers who stole livestock and attacked residents, and settlers opening fire on the village of Qusra, killing a 28-year-old man.
Some of these incidents have occurred not only in Area C—where such activity has been concentrated historically—but also in Area B, suggesting a widening geographic scope. This shift aligns with a broader push to extend settler control beyond the areas allocated to Israeli administration under the Oslo Accords.
Settlement expansion and entrenchment
Alongside these developments, the government has continued to advance settlement activity. Under the auspices of the Samaria Regional Council and with approval from the IDF and the political echelon, caravans have been placed in the area designated for a new settlement on Mount Ebal, a strategically sensitive location overlooking Nablus and one that would further encircle the large Palestinian city.
At the same time, officials held a ceremony marking the reestablishment of the settlement of Homesh, also in the northern West Bank, where several families have moved into newly installed caravans. Homesh was one of the settlements evacuated during Israel’s 2005 disengagement; following the repeal of the relevant provisions of the Disengagement Law in 2023, it was formally reauthorized in 2025.
Looking ahead
Taken together, these trends point to a continued deterioration of security in the West Bank: increased restrictions on Palestinian movement, a broader and more frequent pattern of settler violence, and ongoing efforts to expand settlements in strategically significant areas. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 2,360 Palestinians were displaced from their homes between January 2025 and January 2026 as a result of settler violence while IDF operations or demolitions displaced a further 33,648. These dynamics continue to raise pressure on the already strained Palestinian Authority, which Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been increasingly clear he desires to dismantle to advance maximalist Israeli annexation throughout the West Bank and kill the possibility of territorial separation. With Gaza’s future still in question, the deterioration of any alternative security or governing force to Hamas in the Palestinian arena risks bringing about a period of prolonged conflict and instability.