On September 3, 2026, Israeli forces demolished the entire West Bank village of Khirbet Al Tabban, destroying every home along with agricultural structures and water cisterns. The demolition displaced 12 families, 70 people, including 28 children. It is the 66th Palestinian community forcibly displaced by Israel since October 2023, according to reporting by The National.
Hours later, Israeli forces killed two teenagers from the nearby village of Al Mughayyir, near Ramallah. The Palestinian Health Ministry named them as 16-year-old Khalil Shehadeh and 19-year-old Omar Al Naasan. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported the killings happened during a settler attack on the village, with the settlers accompanied by Israeli troops. The Israeli military said it was providing security for police and a civilian trying to return livestock.
These are not isolated events. Nasser Khdour of the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project confirmed that 2026 is the deadliest year for settler violence since ACLED began tracking incidents in Palestine a decade ago. More than 500,000 Israeli settlers now live in the occupied West Bank among roughly three million Palestinians. In July, Israel's Security Cabinet approved 13 new settlements in the central West Bank, and Netanyahu has vowed to keep building more despite international condemnation. Palestinian authorities say Israeli forces and settlers have violated 13 West Bank mosques this year, with settlers trying to torch one just this week.
The violence is enabled from the top. Netanyahu is accused of letting West Bank violence run unchecked to appease the far-right partners who keep his coalition in power. The pattern rarely changes. Settlers attack, the army arrives and shields the settlers, and Palestinian land is emptied.
The clearest sign of how far this has gone is who is now condemning it. In August, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a longtime supporter of the settlements, called settlers besieging Palestinian homes in the village of Qusra "Israeli terrorists" and described the siege as a horrific act of terror. Senator Chris Van Hollen and 30 other senators wrote to the Trump administration demanding an investigation into the killing of American citizen Nasrallah Abu Siyam, shot by settlers.
It is unclear to us how many more Americans must die in the West Bank in order for this administration to take serious, credible steps to secure accountability.
Abu Siyam was the ninth American citizen killed in the West Bank since January 2022. No one has been held responsible for any of their deaths. When even Israel's most reliable defenders in Washington are reaching for the word terrorists, what is happening on the ground is not in question. A village was erased today. Two teenagers were buried. Israel has promised there will be more.