CONFLICT WATCH — West Bank · Civilian livelihoods and access

Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank are reporting widespread crop theft, assaults and restricted access to olive groves during a harvest that supports tens of thousands of families.

Reuters published field reporting from Lubban al-Gharbi on October 22. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, separately documented a sharp rise in harvest-related attacks through October 12. Their figures cover different reporting periods and methods and should not be added together.

Rights group records attacks and crop theft

Reuters reported that Israeli rights group Yesh Din documented 125 physical attacks on Palestinian olive harvesters during the first 24 days of the season and 168 incidents of crop theft. The group said Israeli military forces were present in at least a quarter of the recorded cases.

In Lubban al-Gharbi, farmer Ahmed Salem told Reuters that settlers struck his olive trees and removed the crop. He said villagers had seen olives from groves they consider Palestinian land taken to a nearby outpost for pressing.

Those are Reuters interviews and Yesh Din records, not interviews or incident counts produced by TNC. TNC has not independently verified every case or established the identity or motive of every person involved.

UN data show injuries and damage before the official harvest

OCHA's October 15 humanitarian report counted 199 olive-harvest-related settler attacks between September 1 and October 12. It reported one Palestinian killed, 124 people injured and more than 2,500 trees and saplings damaged.

OCHA said 92 of the injured people were hurt by settlers and 32 by Israeli forces in the context of settler attacks. It described the figures as preliminary and noted that they largely concerned incidents before the official October 15 start of the harvest.

The agency estimates that the harvest supports 80,000 to 100,000 Palestinian families. Violence, damaged trees and lost access therefore affect household income and food production beyond the immediate incidents.

Access restrictions expand

The Associated Press reported on October 21 that Peace Now estimated the area of privately owned Palestinian farmland requiring prior coordination with the Israeli military had expanded by nearly 30 per cent to 88 square kilometres.

The Israeli military declined to comment to AP on that exact figure but said Palestinian farmers must coordinate access to areas under Israeli security control. In a separate response reported by Reuters, a military official said the army treats violence and criminal activity seriously but did not address the reported thefts occurring in the presence of troops.

An Israeli government spokesperson disputed the Palestinian characterization of the olive removals as theft and said Jewish residents owned and cultivated many trees in the area, while also saying no one should take the law into their own hands. Reuters said the Yesha Council, which represents settlements, did not immediately respond to its request for comment.

UN bodies and most governments regard Israeli settlements in territory occupied in 1967 as illegal under international law. Israel disputes that position and describes the West Bank as disputed territory.

Gaza and the West Bank are separate reporting contexts

This report concerns inland West Bank farmland, civilian livelihoods and movement restrictions. It does not describe Gaza, and its figures should not be combined with Gaza casualty, displacement or aid data.

Related: Gaza food assistance and earlier West Bank protection reporting →

How this report was verified

TNC compared Reuters' October 22 field reporting with OCHA's October 15 humanitarian report and AP's October 21 account of access restrictions and detentions. OCHA's dataset predates the latest Reuters reporting, so it corroborates the broader pattern without verifying every later allegation.

TNC conducted no original interviews or visit to the groves. Allegations, institutional counts and official responses remain attributed to their published sources.

Sources and reporting dates

Cover: Editorial illustration of inland West Bank olive groves and restricted farm access. It does not document a particular village, farm, barrier or attack.