April 2024 West Bank Settler Violence

On April 12, 2024, Benjamin Achimeir, a 14-year-old Israeli resident of Jerusalem, left the Malachei Ha Shalom farm outpost northeast of Ramallah to graze sheep.[1][2] When the flock returned without him, Israeli security forces — including the IDF, Shin Bet, and police — launched a search.[3] During the search, initial clashes between settlers and Palestinians were already being reported in the area; N12 reported one Palestinian killed and ten injured in those clashes, as well as three lightly injured Israeli soldiers, though the reporting did not establish who fired the fatal shot.[4]

Achimeir's body was found on April 13 near the outpost, located by a drone search.[5] A joint IDF, Shin Bet, and police statement confirmed he had been murdered in a terrorist attack and that a pursuit of suspects was underway.[5] Achimeir's death is listed under April 12 and described as a terrorist murder committed while he was herding sheep — a slight discrepancy from the State Department's account, which places his disappearance on April 12 and the discovery of his body on April 13.[6][7]

On April 22, Israeli authorities arrested 21-year-old Ahmed Dawabsha of Duma following an IDF and Shin Bet raid; police described a "significant development" in the investigation, and Dawabsha implicated himself at the outset of his interrogation.[2]

April 12 — First wave of attacks

Even before Achimeir's body was discovered, settlers attacked Palestinian villages in the area.[1] Palestinian reports alleged that hundreds of settlers raided the village of al-Mughayyir, setting fire to houses and vehicles and shooting at residents.[1] Palestinian medics reported one death and 25 injuries from settler gunfire in al-Mughayyir on April 12; at the time of initial reporting, the identity of the deceased and whether settlers or Israeli security forces had fired the fatal shot remained unclear.[8] Settlers also raided the village of Abu Falah that day, burning vehicles, motorcycles, and greenhouses.[1]

April 13 — Second wave and expanded targets

After Achimeir's body was found, a second wave of attacks erupted across a wider area.[1] Settlers again attacked al-Mughayyir and Abu Falah, then blocked the entrances to four Ramallah-district towns — Silwad, Turmus Aya, Sinjil, and Deir Debwan — and attacked vehicles passing through them.[1] In the Nablus district, attacks included shooting at Palestinians and the burning of homes and vehicles in Duma, al-Sawiya, and Qusra.[1] A 17-year-old Palestinian was reported killed by settler gunfire in Kafr Baytin, east of Ramallah.[1]

The rights organization Yesh Din reported that at least ten Palestinian villages were attacked overall.[9] Its documented incidents included live gunfire and burned cars in al-Mughayyir and Duma; damage to five homes and several vehicles in al-Sawiya; six homes and four vehicles set alight in Qusra; a car burned in Beitin; and stone-throwing or other damage in Silwad, Sinjil, Beitillu, Turmusaya, and Beit Furik.[9] Ynet reported Palestinian accounts that a Palestinian was shot dead by a settler in al-Mughayyir, and that local sources told WAFA settlers fired at the funeral procession of Jihad Afif Abu-Alia, who had been killed in the village the previous day.[10]

Municipal footage showed dozens of sheep and goats killed and mutilated during the al-Mughayyir attack.[9] Yedioth Ahronoth photographer Shaul Golan, who was documenting the violence in Duma, said settlers beat him, broke his fingers, burned his bag and photography equipment, and searched his pockets for a memory card; he said some wore IDF uniforms and carried rifles.[11] A journalists' organization subsequently condemned the assault and called for those responsible to be identified and prosecuted.[11]

The deputy head of the al-Mughayyir village council, Marzouk Abu Naim, later claimed that more than 60 vehicles and 16 homes had been burned during the attacks, with ten homes completely destroyed, one Palestinian killed, and 45 injured — though those figures were his attributed claims and were not independently verified by the reporting outlets.[12]

April 15 — Deaths near Gitit and Aqraba

A separate deadly confrontation occurred near the Gitit checkpoint and Aqraba on April 15, in which two Palestinians — Abdalrahman Maher, 30, and Muhammad Ashraf Bani Jama, 21 — were killed by gunfire and a third was wounded.[13] Accounts of the episode conflicted sharply: one account relayed by the army said approximately 50 Palestinians had attacked a Jewish shepherd, while Palestinian sources said about 50 settlers arrived in a Palestinian-owned agricultural area.[13] Settlers denied responsibility for the deaths; the IDF said it was not present when the fatal confrontation occurred, and an initial inquiry indicated that its forces had not fired on the two men.[14] Police opened an investigation but had made no arrests at the time of reporting.[13]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Achimeir's killing and called on Israelis to allow security forces to pursue the killers without hindrance.[15] Defense Minister Yoav Gallant urged the public not to take the law into its own hands, warning that revenge actions would hinder soldiers working to find those responsible.[15] President Isaac Herzog echoed those calls, urging Israelis not to act violently while expressing support for the security forces.[15]

The IDF described the events as clashes between Israelis and Palestinians at several West Bank locations, noting that stones were thrown and shots fired and that dozens of Israelis and Palestinians were injured.[5] It said forces used riot-dispersal measures and that additional IDF and Border Police companies were reinforcing the area.[5] Yesh Din reports cited by N12, by contrast, described live gunfire, burned vehicles, injuries, and property damage in several Palestinian villages.[11]

On April 28, Defense Minister Gallant signed administrative-detention warrants for five settlers suspected of participating in the reprisal attacks.[16] The warrants, announced by the settler legal-representation group Honenu, provided for detention periods of three, four, or six months.[16] National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir publicly criticized Gallant's decision.[16] The detention orders were preventive measures against suspects, not criminal convictions.[16] Separately, on April 21, police arrested eight suspects in Yitzhar on suspicion of nationalist crime and possible involvement in the rampages, though some had already been released at the time of reporting.[12]

The Palestinian Authority condemned the attacks and called for international intervention, prosecution of those responsible, and sanctions.[1] PA Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Mustafa directed PA representatives abroad to present the events to foreign governments.[1] Hamas called for an escalation of armed activity in Judea and Samaria in response.[1]

In October 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury attributed the al-Mughayyir attack to the Hilltop Youth, describing it as a group of extremist Israeli settlers.[17] Treasury's account said attackers set fire to homes, buildings, and vehicles, beat villagers, looted property including livestock, and left one Palestinian dead.[17] Treasury situated the al-Mughayyir attack within what it characterized as Hilltop Youth's broader campaign of violence against Palestinians — including killings, arson, assaults, and intimidation — which Treasury assessed was intended to drive Palestinian communities out of the West Bank.[17]

The U.S. State Department's 2024 human rights report noted that incidents of Israeli violence against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank reached their highest daily average since the United Nations began recording such data in 2005.[3] The report also recorded that on July 29, 2024, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the Israeli government was obligated to protect Palestinian residents of the West Bank from this kind of violence.[3]

A Ynet investigation published in August 2024 reported that inquiries into Palestinians allegedly killed during the search for Achimeir, and into the assault on photographer Shaul Golan, had not advanced — with no arrests or indictments reported in either case at that time.[18] Security officials interviewed for the report described dozens of incidents of nationalist crime and criticized the police response, though those assessments were attributed to the officials and not presented as official findings.[18]

The rights group B'Tselem alleged in its contemporaneous reporting that Palestinians had been abandoned to armed settler groups and that the Israeli army had allowed or taken part in the riots.[9] The IDF's account differed: it described the events as clashes, said its forces had removed settlers from Duma, and stated that the incidents had ended at the time of its announcement.[5] These remain differing characterizations by an advocacy organization and the military, without a resolved official finding on the army's role.[9]

Casualty and damage figures varied considerably across sources and across the days of reporting. Estimates of burned vehicles and homes in al-Mughayyir ranged from approximately 40 in one early account attributed to village council deputy Marzouk Abu Naim, to more than 60 vehicles and 16 homes in a later account also attributed to him; neither figure was independently verified in the reports.[12][5] Palestinian reports, WAFA, and the Palestinian Red Crescent were the primary sources for specific injury and death counts, and those totals shifted as events continued and new incidents were reported.[10]

The allegation that settlers acted in al-Mughayyir "under the auspices of the security forces" appeared in Palestinian reporting cited by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center; neither that center nor any cited Israeli official confirmed the allegation.[1] Attribution of fatal shots in both the al-Mughayyir incidents and the April 15 confrontation near Gitit remained unresolved in the available reporting, with Israeli security forces, settlers, and Palestinian sources offering conflicting accounts.[4][13]