ISRAELI OCCUPIED WEST BANK, 12 Feb. - (ANA) - More than 900 Palestinians in the West Bank have been forced to leave their homes since the start of this year amid ongoing Israeli settler violence, the UN has said, as a wave of assaults was reported on Friday in the occupied territory.

 

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that the high number of displaced people is largely due to "settler violence and access restrictions imposed through demolition operations."

 

Dujarric added that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented more than 50 settler attacks between January 20 and Monday, resulting in casualties, property damage, or both.

 

"We are carrying out initial assessments of the damage and needs in the aftermath of these incidents in order to guide the UN’s humanitarian response."

 

Israeli settler attacks and military raids spiked in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. The assaults have seen more than a thousand Palestinians killed, with thousands more injured.

 

More than 18,000 Palestinians have been detained, including around 1,500 children and 194 journalists, according to Palestinian figures. Some have remained in custody while others have been released.

 

On Friday evening, a 15-year-old boy from the town of Abu Dis, southeast of occupied Jerusalem, was seriously wounded after being shot by Israeli undercover forces.

 

The Jerusalem Governorate said in a statement that the security unit was travelling in a civilian vehicle and opened heavy fire, severely wounding the minor. Paramedics were prevented from reaching the boy for more than an hour, as Israeli authorities cordoned off the area and barred access.

 

Footage shared online showed the boy heavily bleeding.

 

An ambulance was later allowed to administer first aid and transfer the minor to hospital, the statement added.

 

Earlier in the day, Israeli forces arrested journalists Bushra al-Tawil and Hatem Hamdan as they crossed a military checkpoint north of Ramallah. Two other journalists working for a foreign outlet and foreign solidarity activists who were documenting settler attacks in Masafer Yatta were also detained.

 

Settlers also vandalised crops using chemical substances in Masafer Yatta, while Israeli authorities issued stop-work orders for the construction of buildings in Ni'lin, west of Ramallah, under the pretext that there were no permits.

 

Israel has long enforced the policy of demolishing Palestinian homes, claiming that owners have no legal permits, but Palestinians say it is near-impossible to obtain these. On the other hand, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government has pushed forward with the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

 

In the town of Dura, southwest of Hebron, armed settlers stormed the Jabal Tarousa area and performed Jewish rituals. Another group of settlers pitched a tent near the homes of Palestinian locals in Khirbet Samra in the northern Jordan Valley.

 

Such acts of harassment and intimidation are often aimed at provoking a retaliation from locals before security forces intervene, leading to arrests of Palestinians – and in many cases fatal injuries.

 

It is uncommon for settlers to face justice after an attack on Palestinian residents, their homes, or other private property.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/12 February 2026  - - -