By Pesha Magid and Ali Sawafta
ABU FALAH, West Bank, March 11 (Reuters) – Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank are taking advantage of curbs on movement imposed during the war on Iran to attack Palestinians, with military roadblocks preventing ambulances reaching victims quickly, rights groups and medics say.
Settlers have killed at least five Palestinians in the West Bank since the United States and Israel began airstrikes against Iran on February 28, according to the Palestinian health ministry. A sixth man died after inhaling teargas fired during an attack, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem.
Israel’s military blocked many West Bank roads with iron gates and mounds of earth on the first day of the war, and has largely shut crossings with Israel.
The Israeli military says the curbs are preemptive measures while it is carrying out airstrikes on Iran and against Lebanese group Hezbollah, which has fired missiles at Israel in solidarity with Tehran.
Palestinians in remote West Bank villages say the roadblocks have left them increasingly exposed to settler violence.
The Israeli military has also continued to carry out the raids it frequently conducts in Palestinian cities and towns during peacetime to arrest Palestinians, often without charge, they say.
A spokesperson for the Yesha Council, which represents Jewish settlements, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the attacks.
PRE-DAWN ATTACK
Malak Beirat’s husband, Thaer, was one of two Palestinians who residents and the Palestinian health ministry say were shot dead by settlers before dawn on Sunday in Abu Falah, north of the city of Ramallah.
“Thaer loved life. I never expected he would die,” said Beirat, fighting back tears as she sat with her two children.
Witnesses told Reuters that when over 100 settlers gathered on the outskirts of Abu Falah, a local WhatsApp group rallied men to protect the small village. The initial confrontation involved stone throwing, but armed settlers arrived later and began shooting, they said.
Beirat’s husband was shot dead while trying to protect a house from attack, a man who helped defend the village said.
Blood could still be seen on Monday in olive groves at the scene of the attack, where villagers have erected two Palestinian flags at the spots where the two men were killed – one for each victim.
A third Palestinian died after the attack. B’Tselem said his death was probably caused by the effect of teargas fired by Israeli troops deployed to the village during the attack.
The Israeli military says an investigation has been launched into the incident and that it condemns “violence of any kind”.
‘TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE WAR’
Medics say the new roadblocks have led to delays in reaching injured Palestinians.
“There are obstacles – and even attacks by settlers and the military on the (medical) crews,” said Ahmed Jibril, spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service.
There have been over 109 reports of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war with Iran including shootings, physical assaults, property damage, and threats, said Israeli monitoring group Yesh Din.
All the reported killings of Palestinians by settlers this year were in the last week, B’Tselem said.
Settlers shot dead Amir Muhammad Shanaran in a village near the city of Hebron on Saturday, and brothers Muhammad and Fahim ‘Azem were shot dead in Qaryut southeast of the city of Nablus last Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said.
“Taking advantage of the war, armed settler militias, often operating with support from the army, continue to attack and harass Palestinian communities across the West Bank in an effort to force them out,” B’Tselem said.
In three of the settler shootings, the settlers were wearing Israeli army uniform, Yesh Din said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Palestinians accuse the military of protecting settlers rather than villagers. Israel’s military denies this.
Israeli indictments of settler violence are rare. At the end of 2025, Yesh Din said that of the hundreds of cases of settler violence it had documented since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October 2023 that led to the Gaza war, only 2% resulted in indictments.
SETTLEMENT EXPANSION
The United Nations says nearly 700 Palestinians were displaced by settler violence from the start of 2025 through early February 2026.
Israel’s government has expanded settlements in a construction push that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says is aimed at burying the idea of a Palestinian state.
Right-wing Israeli minister Yossi Dagan announced on Wednesday the establishment of a new settlement in a strategic position in the mountain overlooking Nablus, one of 22 new settlements announced by the Israeli government last May.
Palestinians have long sought an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured and occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.
Over 700,000 settlers live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank among more than 3 million Palestinians, according to a European Union report in 2024.
Most of the world considers Israel’s settlement activity in the West Bank illegal under international law relating to military occupations. Israel disputes this view.
(Reporting by Pesha Magid and Ali Sawafta, Editing by Rami Ayyub and Timothy Heritage)
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