While the world's attention is focused on the US-Israeli war with Iran, the Israeli-occupied West Bank has experienced a surge in deadly settler violence. Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said the increase in bloodshed "indicates the intensification of Israel's ethnic cleansing efforts under cover of the war with Iran". "It seems that when the Iran war began, the settlers saw it as a golden opportunity," Ibrahim Hamayel, a resident of Abu Falah who tried to push back the settlers, told AFP. The UN says 180 Palestinians have been displaced since the war with Iran started on February 28, and 1,500 since the start of 2026. "The level of violence in the West Bank is unacceptable," the European Union said in a recent statement, adding that many Palestinian communities "have been attacked, (their) properties damaged and livelihoods destroyed" since the Iran war began.

Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha March 15, 2026 03:26 UTC