Israel working to eliminate Palestinian presence from West Bank, NGO warns

What the report says

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has accused Israel of carrying out a coordinated campaign to weaken Palestinian life in the occupied West Bank and deepen permanent Israeli control there. In a report released on Monday and cited by Al Jazeera, the group said the effort is aimed at erasing the Palestinian presence through a set of linked policies rather than isolated incidents.

The report says the campaign has intensified under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government since late 2022, and especially after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October 2023. B’Tselem executive director Yuli Novak said Palestinians in the West Bank are facing a single political project that affects daily life across the territory. The organization said it relied on about 2,000 Palestinian testimonies.

B’Tselem identified five main tools: violence by Israeli forces and armed settlers; restrictions on movement; pressure on the West Bank economy; criminalization of political activity; and steps that displace Palestinian communities. Al Jazeera reported that the group said at least 1,107 Palestinians were killed in West Bank attacks between October 2023 and September 2026, at least 75 communities were forcibly displaced, and about 33,000 people were uprooted from refugee camps in the north. It also cited UN data showing 925 movement obstacles by the end of last year.

The report is significant because it frames the West Bank situation as part of a broader policy, and it calls on governments and international institutions to act. As background, the West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967, and rights groups have long disputed Israeli policy there, especially around settlements, movement controls and the treatment of Palestinians.