Shots by settlers, expansion of colonies… What is the situation in the West Bank, where Palestinians are voting in the first elections since the Gaza war?

While municipal elections are taking place in Palestine on Saturday, Israel continues to expand its control over the West Bank, including new settlements, despite warnings from the international community.

A vote under constraints. Palestinians from the West Bank and part of Gaza are called to the polls on Saturday, April 25 to elect their mayors and municipal councilors. Nearly 1.5 million people are registered on the electoral lists in the occupied West Bank, and 70,000 in the Deir el-Balah area in the center of the Gaza Strip, the two regions involved, according to the Central Elections Commission based in Ramallah.

But these municipal elections are taking place in a particular context. The West Bank is at the center of a surge of violence involving Israeli settlers, which has intensified since the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023. The Israeli government regularly announces projects to create or expand Jewish colonies, disregarding international criticism.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government supports colonization

Since 1967, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has been under Israeli occupation. The territory is divided into three fragmented administrative zones: A, B, and C, following the Oslo Accords in the 1990s. According to a report by Oxfam France in September 2025, Zone C, under total Israeli control and representing 60% of the territory, is seeing an increase in illegal Jewish colonization. On February 8, Israel reached a new stage in extending its control over the West Bank with a series of rules allowing reinforcement of control over the territory, including in zones A and B, administered by the Palestinian Authority.

These decisions are expected to “fundamentally change the legal and civil reality” in the West Bank, according to a joint statement from the Finance and Defense ministries. According to Le Monde, these measures facilitate the purchase of land by Israeli settlers and authorize the administration of religious sites such as the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron or Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem. “We are deepening our roots in all regions of the Land of Israel and burying the idea of a Palestinian state,” praised Bezalel Smotrich, a figure of the far right, himself a settler and advocate for the annexation of the West Bank, also in charge of civil affairs at the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Since the government of Benjamin Netanyahu came to power in 2022, the establishment of over 100 colonies has been approved. On April 19, Israel began to reestablish the Sa-Nour colony in the occupied West Bank, which had been evacuated in 2005. Some 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, amidst three million Palestinians.

Attacks by settlers are increasing

Since the attacks on October 7, Israeli settlers have been increasing attacks on Palestinian villages. Violent actions during olive harvesting, harassment of Bedouin shepherds and their flocks, homes demolished by bulldozers or set on fire, and even fatal shootings. On April 22, a Palestinian was shot by Israeli settlers in the central occupied West Bank. The day before, two Palestinians, including a teenager, were killed in similar circumstances, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

“Settlers have attacked us in our home more than once since October 7, 2023. One day, they broke down our door and shot our children. They broke the windows while we were sleeping,” said Hadeel Jabareen, a resident of Zanuta, to Amnesty International, reporting that the last families left the village in the hills south of Hebron on October 18, 2024.

According to an AFP count based on data from the Palestinian Authority, at least 1,065 Palestinians – including fighters and attackers, but also civilians – have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since the start of the war in Gaza. At the same time, according to official Israeli data, at least 46 Israelis – civilians and soldiers – have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids.

On March 30, the Israeli parliament passed a law on the death penalty allowing for further tightening of repression against Palestinians in the West Bank. The text provides for this penalty to be imposed as a default if the homicide is classified as an act of terrorism by the Israeli military justice.

Israel dismisses international criticism

Faced with the measures adopted by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and the abuses of the settlers, international reactions are pouring in. In a joint statement published on February 24 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 19 countries, including France, denounce an “unacceptable de facto annexation” and Israeli decisions “that significantly extend Israel’s illegal control over the West Bank.” These criticisms are based on international law and remind that the UN considers the expansion of these settlements to be illegal.

In a joint statement published on the EU delegation’s X account to the Palestinians at the end of March, the EU condemns the escalation of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied territory. It said that it was “particularly appalled by the murders of Palestinians committed in recent weeks”. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, announced on Thursday, April 23, that he hoped European sanctions would be adopted “in the coming days” against Israeli settlers “responsible for murders of Palestinians or fires in the occupied West Bank.”

On the Israeli side, the government dismisses the criticisms. Bezalel Smotrich even called on February 17 to “encourage migration” of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza to establish the “sovereignty” of the Hebrew state over these territories. “We will eliminate the idea of a terrorist Arab state,” declared the Finance Minister at a meeting of his party, Religious Zionism, while affirming that the government will cancel “the cursed Oslo Accords.” “Judea-Samaria [the name used by Israel to refer to the West Bank] is the heart of the country,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz on February 8.