Al-Haq expresses its profound concern that the international community continues in its failure to take effective measures to ensure the protection of Palestinians from escalating Israeli settler violence and terror being perpetrated across the occupied West Bank.

On 28 February 2026, Israeli settler militias, with the support of and under the protection of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), were recorded attacking Palestinian homes in the town of Huwwara, in the Nablus Governorate of the West Bank. In the early hours of 8 March 2026, three Palestinians were killed in a violent settler attack on Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah. The attack by Israeli settlers and the IOF saw live ammunition being used against Palestinian civilians, and resulted in the killing of Thaer Farouk Hamayel, 24 and Farea Joudat Hamayel, 57. Additionally, Mohammad Hasan Murra, 55 was killed as a result of suffocation after tear gas was deployed by the IOF. On the morning of 12 March 2026, Israeli settlers carried out an arson attack on the Mohammad Fayyad Mosque in the village Duma, near Nablus.

These violent attacks are not isolated incidents, but a direct result of Israel's aggressive campaign of settlement across the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and the wider imposition of its settler colonial apartheid regime. As recognised by the International Court of Justice, ‘Israel’s settlement policy has given rise to violence by settlers and security forces against Palestinians’ (para 148, Palestine AO, 2024). Settler colonialism is an embedded and exponentially violent aspect of Israel’s occupation, with Israeli government ministers, themselves illegal settlers in the West Bank, actively encouraging violence against Palestinians. Recently, Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir (a settler), approved the issues of gun licenses to Israelis in 18 additional illegal settlements in the West Bank. Israeli settlers are not only emboldened but also armed by the Israeli government, and carry out lethal attacks with impunity.

Settler violence is a core component of Israel’s annexationist plans. On 8 February 2026, the Israeli cabinet approved the implementation of wide-sweeping, illegal measures aimed at accelerating the seizure of land from Palestinians. The measures introduced by the Cabinet alter the existing Jordanian regulations (which have been in force since before the commencement of occupation in 1967), and reactivate Israel's land acquisition committee, whose purpose is to ensure the complete appropriation of Palestinian land across the West Bank including East Jerusalem. Minister of Defence Yisrael Katz and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich made their intentions to continue illegal annexation explicit in stating, “We are strengthening our grip on the territory and killing the idea of ​​establishing an Arab terrorist state in the heart of the country.”

Al-Haq once again highlights the rupture between the rhetoric of the international community and the failure to take meaningful action to stop settler violence. A statement of 10 March 2026 by the EU foreign ministry acknowledges six Palestinians killed by Israeli settlers since 28 February 2026, but fails to call on the EU states and international community to take the necessary steps in line with their international law obligations to end the violence against Palestinians. Instead, the EU’s statement urges the Israeli authorities to prevent further attacks, warning against impunity.

What the EU must understand, indeed what it is itself complicit in, is the fact that impunity is an Israeli policy designed precisely to provoke further violence against Palestinians. The EU’s own reports accept that: ‘Accountability for settler violence is grossly inadequate. Israeli law enforcement investigations of settler attacks are insufficient, with Palestinians often fearful of retribution if they report incidents. The location of Israeli police stations inside Israeli settlements makes it difficult or impossible for Palestinians to access . . . the IDF frequently stands by without intervening during settler attacks against Palestinians.’

Words of condemnation are not enough. Al-Haq demands that all Third States and the EU comply with their international law obligations to address the root causes and urgently;

1. Implement legislation to end the import into their jurisdictions, and public procurement of all goods and services from settlements, and which maintains the unlawful occupation and apartheid;

2. End all trade with Israel that maintains the illegal occupation and apartheid, including by terminating the EU-Israel Association Agreement;

3. Sanction settler organizations, businesses, and those complicit in maintaining their presence in the OPT;

4. Individually sanction all Israeli settlers, commencing with State or public officials, unlawfully present in the Occupied Palestinian Territory;

5. Revoke all pension rights and State benefits to dual nationals who are illegally colonising the Palestinian territory;

6. Recognise that settler violence is part of an Israeli state policy of apartheid;

7. Investigate criminal acts of settlers, including settler Israeli Ministers, and prosecute those responsible for grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of genocide; including referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC);

8. Ensure accountability domestically as required under the Rome Statute of the ICC, implementing requirements for the disclosure of service, of those who serve or who have served in the Israeli military, and the disclosure of residence of settlers, upon entry into States;

9. Establish an International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to assist in the investigation and prosecution of persons responsible for the most serious crimes against the Palestinian people;

10. Implement a full arms embargo on Israel.