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

As municipal elections are held in Palestine on Saturday, Israel continues to expand its influence in the West Bank, including new settlements, despite alerts from the international community.

A constrained vote. Palestinians in 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 affected regions, according to the Central Elections Commission, based in Ramallah.

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

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 of 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 witnessing an increase in illegal Jewish colonization. On February 8, Israel took a new step to extend its control over the West Bank with a series of rules to strengthen control over the territory, including in areas A and B administered by the Palestinian Authority.

These decisions are intended to “fundamentally change the legal and civil reality” in the West Bank, states the joint press release 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 Tomb 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 prominent figure in the far-right, himself a settler and advocate of annexing the West Bank, also in charge of civil affairs at the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Since Benjamin Netanyahu’s government came to power in 2022, the establishment of over 100 colonies has been approved. On April 19, Israel began to re-establish the Sa-Nour colony in the occupied West Bank, which had been evacuated in 2005. Around 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 the olive harvest, harassment of Bedouin shepherds and their herds, homes demolished by bulldozers or set on fire, and even fatal shootings… On April 22, a Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli settlers in the center of the occupied West Bank. The day before, two Palestinians, including a teenager, were killed in similar circumstances, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

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

According to an AFP count based on Palestinian Authority data, at least 1,065 Palestinians – including fighters and assailants, as well as 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 allowing for the death penalty to be imposed on Palestinians in the West Bank, further escalating the crackdown on them. The text provides for this penalty to be default if the homicide is deemed an act of terrorism by the Israeli military justice.

Israel dismisses international criticism

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

In a joint statement posted on the EU delegation’s X account to the Palestinians at the end of March, the EU condemned the increasing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied territory. The EU said it was “particularly outraged by the murders of Palestinians in recent weeks.” French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, announced on Thursday, April 23, his hope that European sanctions would be adopted “in the coming days” against Israeli settlers “responsible for the murders of Palestinians or arson 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 accursed Oslo agreements.” “Judea and Samaria [the name used by Israel for the West Bank] is the heart of the country,” affirmed the Defense Minister Israel Katz on February 8.