Facing violence and harassment, hundreds of Palestinians flee West Bank villages

The savage attack by Hamas against Israel on October 7 and the atrocities the terror group committed on that day plunged Israel into war and brought about the greatest security threat to the Jewish state in half a century.

At the same time, the October 7 assault has unleashed severe backlash in the West Bank against Palestinian civilians, who have been violently attacked and harassed by extremist settlers and specially formed IDF reserve units established to provide extra security to Israeli settlements.

According to activist groups such as B’tselem and Peace Now, which oppose Israeli rule in the West Bank, as well as the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), this wave of harassment has led hundreds of Palestinians in vulnerable rural communities to abandon their homes and villages.

According to B’tselem, some 963 Palestinians have been displaced from 16 communities in the West Bank as a result of the attacks since October 7.

OCHA has recorded even higher figures for displaced Palestinians, and says 1,149 people from 15 herding communities have been displaced due to settler violence and land access restrictions.

In a recent visit to the South Hebron Hills, The Times of Israel spoke with several Palestinian residents about the attacks and visited one of the now-forsaken villages. READ MORE