oPt: Child and man killed near school in Al Mughayyir as settler militarisation intensifies

Country: occupied Palestinian territory Source: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Please refer to the attached files. UN Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OHCHR OPT) condemns the killing of 14-year-old Aws Hamdi Naasan and 35-year-old Jihad Abu Naiem by Israeli settlers on 21 April in Al Mughayyir village in the occupied West Bank. It also condemns the killing of 25-year-old Odeh Awawdeh in a separate settler attack in Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah. The killings continue a growing pattern of unchecked violence by a settler movement that is militarised and shielded by the state. In Deir Dibwan, settlers entered the village and clashed with residents with an armed settler shooting and killing 25-year-old Odeh Awawdeh. Israeli security forces raided the town and closed its entrances during the incident, detaining 30 Palestinian men who were later released. According to Israeli media reports, Israeli security forces also held several settlers for questioning following the incident. Settlers also attacked Al Mughayyir around noon on Tuesday and opened fire towards the boys’ school west of the village. Residents of Al Mughayyir circulated a video showing the shooting of the child while sheltering with others just outside his school as gunshots are heard from a distance. Eyewitnesses told OHCHR OPT that one of two armed settlers in partial uniform was shooting at the school, with four masked members of Israeli security forces in full uniform present at the scene. The Israeli military issued a statement claiming that the incident occurred when a car carrying “civilians including a reservist soldier” stopped when stones were allegedly hurled. The statement said the reservist exited the vehicle and shot at suspects. According to Israeli media, the reservist was later suspended and an investigation was initiated. At least nine Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of 2026 by settlers later identified by the Israeli military as reservist soldiers. This convergence of settler and soldier is the result of measures taken by the Israeli authorities to intensify the militarisation of the settler movement since 7 October 2023, including the enlistment and arming of thousands of settlers as reservists in regional battalions known as Hagmar . These measures also include arming and empowering settlements’ emergency response squads known as Kitat Konenut , and the relaxation of gun licensing requirements for Israelis, including settlers. Across the West Bank, Palestinians are reporting attacks by men who are clearly known to them as settlers, but who are dressed in full or partial military uniform and are often carrying state-issued assault rifles and military gear. Palestinian survivors of such attacks describe their attackers as “settlers in uniform.” Settler attacks on Palestinian communities are often carried out with the active support and participation of uniformed Israeli security forces, even when there is no ambiguity that the perpetrators are settlers. Since 7 October 2023, 1,088 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank, including 238 children. This includes 34 by settlers, 1,040 by Israeli security forces, and 14 Palestinians whose killings cannot be definitively attributed because Israeli security forces and settlers were attacking and shooting together. No Israeli soldier has served a single day in prison for killing a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank since at least 2017. The only recorded conviction was in 2020 for which the sentence was three months of military service and three months of suspended jail time. Settlers’ impunity is equally systematic. According to the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, 93.6% of all investigations of settler violence in the occupied West Bank between 2005 and 2025 were closed without indictments, and only 3% led to partial or full convictions with lenient sentences. “Israeli policies have erased whatever line that ever existed between settler and state violence. And the systematic impunity for killing Palestinians is the backbone of this non-stop horror,” said Ajith Sunghay, head of OHCHR OPT. “The international community must insist on meaningful accountability for the perpetrators of all unlawful killings in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to stop the bloodshed.” ENDS For more information and media requests, please contact: Mayy El Sheikh – mayy.elsheikh@un.org Tag and share Twitter @OHCHR_Palestine Facebook UN Human Rights Palestine

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