Masked Settlers Attack Olive Pickers in Beita Area as Soldiers Detain Journalists Nearby

About 50 masked settlers approached a Palestinian home in the az-Zahra area of Beita on Saturday morning, throwing stones before attacking the house directly, according to an American activist volunteering with the olive harvest who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.

Soldiers arrived shortly after the settlers. Rather than intervening against the attackers, they rounded up the Palestinian farmers and foreign volunteers who had been picking olives.

"They sat them on the ground at gunpoint and forced us to leave," the activist told Al Jazeera, describing how soldiers ordered both Palestinians and volunteers off the land.

The attacks were not limited to Beita. Al Jazeera's on-the-ground reporting documented settlers burning olive trees and detaining dozens of people in the village of Abu Dis and the town of Awarta the same day. In nearby Osarin, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that settlers fired tear gas at Palestinians and journalists, attacked homes, stoned a vehicle and assaulted several residents. Al Jazeera video from Osarin shows settlers smashing a Palestinian vehicle; separate footage shows armed settlers attacking a home in Beita.

In the Jabal Qamass area of Beita, south of Nablus, Israeli forces detained and assaulted journalists covering the harvest, according to Al Jazeera colleagues present at the scene.

Palestinian media described residents attempting to repel the settlers in several locations. Al Jazeera's reporting places Saturday's incidents within what Palestinian media have called a wider pattern of settler violence across the West Bank that has escalated since February.

Palestinian authorities say 30 Palestinians have been killed by settlers since the start of 2026, the highest annual toll since 2022. Since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023, Israelis have killed 1,212 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 254 children, with soldiers responsible for most deaths and settlers for more than a quarter, according to figures cited in Al Jazeera's reporting.

The olive harvest, which runs through the autumn, has become one of the most consistent flashpoints for settler attacks in the occupied territory, with Palestinian farmers frequently requiring foreign or Israeli activist escorts to reach their own land.