AhlulBayt News Agency: Muayyad Shaaban, head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, announced that Israeli occupation forces and settler militias carried out 11,280 assaults on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank during the first half of 2025.
Speaking at a press conference to unveil the semi-annual report titled “The Occupation State’s Attacks on Palestinian Lands and Colonial Expansion Measures,” Shaaban stated that this surge in attacks coincides with Israel’s broader aggression in Gaza and other Palestinian territories. The offenses include land seizures, settlement expansion, forced displacement, executions, bulldozing, tree uprooting, closures, and fragmentation via checkpoints.
He noted that the highest number of assaults occurred in Ramallah (1,975), followed by Al-Khalil (1,918), and Nablus (1,784).
Shaaban explained that Israel’s rush to seize Palestinian geography involved not only expanding settlements and issuing military orders, but also implementing a wave of legislation and government decisions aimed at redefining territorial status—marking an unprecedented threat to Palestinian sovereignty and national rights.
During the same period, settlers conducted 2,153 separate attacks, resulting in the killing of four Palestinians. These attacks included village raids, burning homes, shootings, land grabs, road blockages, and coordinated violence in areas such as Kafr Malik, Al-Mughayyir, Beita, and Sinjil.
The settler assaults were most prevalent in Ramallah (491), Al-Khalil (409), and Nablus (396).
Shaaban revealed that the Israeli authorities reviewed 165 structural plans: 124 for West Bank settlements and 41 for Jerusalem, covering over 17,500 housing units. These plans aim to dramatically reshape Palestinian geography through expansion and new settlement creation.
He said settlers established 23 new outposts—primarily pastoral—on Palestinian land across governorates including Ramallah, Nablus, Al-Khalil, Qalqilya, Tubas, and Jerusalem, all under army protection.
More than 800 dunums of land were seized under military or road construction pretexts, with 36 military seizure orders and one expropriation order issued.
Shaaban added that Israel issued 556 demolition orders: 322 targeted homes, with additional orders affecting agricultural and livelihood structures. Of these, 380 demolitions were carried out, destroying 588 structures and displacing 843 people—411 children and 378 women.
Israeli forces and settlers uprooted or damaged 12,067 trees, including 6,144 olive trees. Most were in Bethlehem (5,359), Ramallah & Al-Bireh (2,282), and Nablus (1,774), in a systematic campaign to erase Palestinian agricultural presence.
Shaaban urged full national unity behind a Palestine-centered strategy, emphasizing responsibility and creative approaches to resist land theft and colonization.
He concluded by reiterating the urgent demand for genuine international protection for Palestinian people and resources against escalating Israeli violations.
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