Alakbarov: The West Bank is at the breaking point, and settler violence has reached unprecedented levels

“The West Bank is at the breaking point,” Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ramiz Alakbarov warned.

As of 10 August, he said, 76 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in 2026, as had three Israelis - including one civilian and two Israeli security force members.

In 2026 alone, 3,800 Palestinians - nearly half of them children - have been displaced due to settler violence, demolitions and evictions.  

“Settler violence has reached unprecedented levels,” he stressed, noting that the UN has documented more than 1,430 incidents this year, affecting some 260 Palestinian communities.

“The pattern is clear”, he said:  Palestinians are being forcibly displaced across the West Bank before settlers seize the vacated land.

Settler attacks, previously concentrated in Area C, are increasingly reported in Area B and even Area A.

Resolution 2803 (2025)

“The situation in the West Bank must be treated as an emergency requiring urgent action,” Mr. Alakbarov implored.

The interconnected steps being taken are reshaping the West Bank, weakening Palestinian governance and advancing de facto annexation.

If the situation continues to unravel, it will undermine implementation of resolution 2803 (2025) and erode the prospects for realizing a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace based on the two-State solution.

He called for implementing resolution 2803 (2025) "immediately and in full", together with the New York Declaration.

After the Israel-Hamas ceasefire in October 2025, the Security Council adopted resolution 2803 (2025), which endorses a peace plan for Gaza put forward by United States President Donald Trump and a temporary international force in the enclave following two years of war.

By a vote of 13 in favour to none against, with permanent members China and the Russian Federation abstaining, the text endorses the Comprehensive Plan announced by the United States President on 29 September.

The first phase of the 20-point plan led to the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel days later.

Child killed every week in West Bank

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Deputy Executive Director Hannan Sulieman told the story of a grandmother in the West Bank who was afraid to leave her home after a grenade was thrown into her kitchen while her grandchildren were inside.

"The fundamental spaces of childhood – the home, the classroom, the street, the community – are becoming increasingly unsafe," she warned.

Between January 2024 and July 2026, 174 Palestinian children were verified killed by the UN in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem - “more than one child every week”, she said, offering context.

More than 1,500 children were injured – nearly half of them by live ammunition. 

Over the same period, 3 Israeli children were killed and 15 injured.

As well, she voiced that 355 Palestinian children from the West Bank are being held in Israeli military detention – “the highest number in eight years”.

She pressed the Council to protect children, end the forced displacement of Palestinian families, protect access to education and healthcare and safeguard humanitarian operations.

“Children in the West Bank have the same rights as children everywhere,” she said:  To live, to learn, to be protected and to imagine a future beyond violence and fear.

UN: West Bank settler violence hits ‘all-time high’

Violence in the occupied West Bank is worsening as the Israeli Government continues to approve new settlements while settlers and Israeli security forces have “often” acted together to attack local Palestinian communities, the UN’s human rights office, OHCHR, warned.

There were about 190 settler attacks per month in the first four months of 2026, putting the West Bank on a trajectory to reach more than 2,000 attacks by the end of the year.

Alongside security forces, Israeli settlers in the West Bank, with financial incentives from the Government, frequently attack families, burn mosques and destroy and confiscate property, OHCHR reported.

Movement restrictions preventing Palestinians from accessing essential services are now tighter than ever, the office added.