The Bottom Line:
While the world has been focused on Israel and Trump’s illegal war on Iran and the current ceasefire, violence by Israeli settlers has exploded. During the 40 days of the Iran War, Israeli human rights NGO Yesh Din documented at least 378 settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank under the cover of the government. Just this week, at least two Palestinians were killed, and three others were wounded in a school shooting carried out by a settler, similarly carried out with Israeli military cover. Meanwhile, the Israeli military continues to attack civilians in Gaza despite the continuation of the so-called “ceasefire.”
School Shootings and Attacks on Education:
In the West Bank village of al-Mughayyer, an Israeli settler opened fire on a school, killing 14-year-old 9th-grade student Aws al-Naasan and 32-year-old parent Jihad Abu Naim, and wounding three others. Video evidence from the attack obtained by CNN shows the moment he was shot and killed. His friends rushed to his side and carried his body away.
At least 55 Palestinian children have been prevented from attending school since April 12th by Israeli settlers who erected a barbed-wire fence blocking the route to their classrooms in the occupied West Bank village of Umm al-Khair, in the Hebron governorate, according to Save the Children. Students and parents have conducted sit-ins at the blockades and have been tear-gassed by Israeli forces in response.
Systemic Sexual Violence as a Tool of Ethnic Cleansing:
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) released a report this week detailing the extensive use of sexual violence by settlers, often in the presence of Israeli military forces, as a weapon of displacement against Palestinian communities. The report, which details harrowing testimonies from male and female survivors of attacks, provides evidence showing how sexualized violence is used to pressure communities, shape decisions about remaining or leaving their homes and land, and alter patterns of daily life. The report can be accessed here. This comes after the Israeli military’s decision to drop charges against soldiers accused of raping a Palestinian detainee, effectively reinforcing a system where such abuses are carried out without consequence.
Continued Impunity for Settler Attacks:
A report by French newspaper Le Monde released on April 17th confirmed what Palestinians and their advocates have long known – that settlers who commit violent attacks do so with complete impunity from the Israeli government. The report found that since 2020, Israeli courts have not handed down any jail sentences to Jewish settlers found responsible for the deaths of Palestinian civilians, even as both the number and severity of the crimes they commit have continued to increase.
“Ceasefire” in Name Only – Israeli Attacks on Civilians in Gaza Continue:
On April 16th, nine-year-old Saleh Badawi was shot dead by Israeli forces in the Zeitoun neighborhood east of Gaza City. Later that day, Mohsen al-Dabbari, 38, was killed by Israeli fire south of Khan Younis. Three others were wounded, including a teenage boy, after Israeli forces fired towards homes and tents sheltering displaced people east of Maghazi refugee camp, according to a witness speaking to Anadolu agency.
On the 17th, three more Palestinians were killed. Brothers Mohammed and Eid Abu Warda were shot dead on Mansoura Street in the Shujayea neighborhood east of Gaza City while transporting water by vehicle, with a third brother wounded with moderate injuries, medical sources told Anadolu. An Israeli drone separately struck a water desalination facility in the same neighborhood, killing one Palestinian and wounding several others, according to news reports.
Since the October 2025 ceasefire, 777 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and at least 2,193 injured, as of April 20, 2026.
Accelerating Annexation via Settlement Building:
In occupied East Jerusalem and across the West Bank, demolitions and evictions have continued at an elevated pace. Israeli authorities demolished the home of 80-year-old cancer patient Abu Kamel Dweik in Silwan’s al-Bustan neighborhood, at least the eighth demolition in the area this month. According to OCHA, since January 2026, at least 86 Palestinian-owned structures have been demolished in East Jerusalem, displacing more than 250 people, with roughly half demolished by their owners to avoid additional fines.
Meanwhile, Israeli extremists like Finance Minister Bezalal Smotrich celebrated the reestablishment of a settlement in the Palestinian West Bank village of Sanur this week, one of multiple being established and/or expanded. The cabinet minister was clear in his and the apartheid government’s intentions with this move, stating that, “We are … killing the idea of the Palestinian state, and returning to the settlement of Sa-Nur. This is a day of celebration for the settlement movement and a national holiday for the State of Israel.”
