Dozens of members of the U.S. House of Representatives called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take urgent steps to prevent settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in a letter dated September 24.
The lawmakers expressed their “urgent concern” about the impact of the escalating attacks on Palestinian communities and called for those communities to be protected and for attacks involving U.S. citizens to be investigated. The letter said that the continuation of violence alongside settlement expansion could harm Israel’s long-term security and weaken hopes for peace, prosperity and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians.
Violence data cited in the letter
According to data cited in the lawmakers’ letter, attacks by Israeli settlers, including incidents targeting Palestinians and Israeli security forces, increased by 27% in 2025. The number of serious incidents rose by 63% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period the previous year, the letter said.
Citing United Nations data, the letter said that 1,122 Palestinians, including civilians and armed individuals, were killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem between October 7, 2023, and July 24, 2026. It also said that 67 Israelis had been killed by Palestinians in the West Bank since the beginning of 2023 during the same period.
Settler violence has displaced residents of 107 communities and affected approximately 6,000 Palestinians since January 2023, the letter said. It added that more than 1,380 incidents linked to settlers had been documented in more than 250 Palestinian communities since the beginning of 2026.
Protection sought for U.S. citizens
The lawmakers said the attacks had made daily life unsafe for Palestinians across large parts of the West Bank. The letter said Palestinian schools, farmers and families had been affected by the attacks, while some residents had been physically assaulted, driven from their agricultural land and subjected to movement restrictions.
The lawmakers said nine U.S. citizens had been killed in the West Bank since January 2022 and that no one had yet been held accountable for these deaths. The letter also said that some lawmakers had received direct information from constituents about U.S. citizens who said they had been threatened or harassed without justification by settlers.
They also called on the Israeli government to protect the safety and property of U.S. citizens living in or visiting areas of the West Bank under Israeli control.
Three demands directed at the Israeli government
The first demand in the letter was for the Israel Police and the Israeli army to protect Palestinian communities under attack and apply the same standard regardless of the identity of the attackers.
Second, the lawmakers called for a transparent and credible mechanism to investigate and prosecute violence against Palestinians and Palestinian American citizens. They also demanded the completion of pending investigations into the deaths of the nine U.S. citizens.
The third demand was to halt approvals for new settlements and continue dismantling illegal outposts in the West Bank. The letter emphasized that restoring the rule of law in the West Bank would serve the security of both Israelis and Palestinians.
