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

A vote under constraints. 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 occupied West Bank, and 70,000 in the Deir el-Balah area in the center of the Gaza Strip, the two regions concerned, according to the Central Electoral Commission based in Ramallah.

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

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government favors 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 settlement. On February 8, Israel took a new step to extend its control over the West Bank with a series of rules to reinforce control over the territory, including in Areas A and B, administered by the Palestinian Authority.

These decisions are said to “fundamentally alter the legal and civil reality” in the West Bank, according to a joint statement from the Finance and Defense ministries. 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 supporter of annexing the West Bank, also responsible for civil affairs at the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Since the government of Benjamin Netanyahu came to power in 2022, the approval of more than 100 settlements has been granted. On April 19, Israel began to reestablish the Sa-Nour colony in 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 multiply

Since the attacks on October 7, Israeli settlers have increased attacks on Palestinian villages. Violent actions during olive harvests, harassment of Bedouin shepherds and their flocks, homes destroyed by bulldozers or set on fire, as well as deadly 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 home more than once since October 7, 2023. One day, they broke into our door and shot at our children. They broke 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 assailants, as well as civilians – have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since the start of the Gaza war. 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 in the occupied West Bank.

On March 30, the Israeli Parliament adopted a death penalty law allowing for further tightening of repression against Palestinians in the West Bank. The text provides for the penalty to be the default option if the homicide is deemed an act of terrorism by the Israeli military justice.

Israel dismisses international criticism

Facing measures adopted by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and the actions of settlers, international reactions are pouring in. In a joint statement, released on February 24 by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, 19 countries, including France, denounce an “unacceptable de facto annexation” and Israeli decisions “that significantly expand 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 illegal.

In a joint statement published on the EU delegation’s account with the Palestinians, at the end of March, the EU condemns the escalation of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied territory. They said they were “particularly revolted by murders of Palestinians in recent weeks”. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced on 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 criticism. 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 in these territories. “We will eliminate the idea of a terrorist Arab state,” declared the Finance Minister during a meeting of his party, Religious Zionism, while asserting that the government will cancel “the cursed Oslo accords.” “Judea and Samaria [the name used by Israel to refer to the West Bank] are the heart of the country,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz on February 8.