On Friday, 16 October 2026, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian olive pickers in the occupied West Bank. Al Jazeera, with Reuters, described about 80 masked settlers at Abu Falah, north of Ramallah, with clubs and slingshots. Palestinians threw stones back. A Reuters photographer saw at least one armed settler fire. Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photojournalist, was beaten and hospitalised.

The Associated Press, carried by PBS, said the Palestine Red Crescent and local officials reported attacks in at least eight villages in the northern West Bank. Medics treated 14 wounded people in six places. In Turmus Ayya, mayor Nawaf Zghoul said settlers burned cars in the groves. The Israeli military said suspects fled before troops arrived.

Yesh Din, an Israeli monitoring group, recorded at least 170 attacks since 27 September, the start of the harvest, Reuters reported. Yesh Din director Ziv Stahl told AP that soldiers are not stopping the violence. The army on Friday condemned the violence and acknowledged the journalist’s injury at Abu Falah. It said troops fired because someone ran at them with a sharp object; a village councillor disputed that account.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office offered a conditional condemnation, called for an inquiry into “who initiated” the violence and spoke of law-abiding Jewish residents of “Judea and Samaria”. The US State Department condemned “criminal violence by any party” and offered consular help to the Washington Post. The olive harvest supports tens of thousands of Palestinian families, the farmers’ union said.

Al Jazeera also reported other October harvest incidents, including groves set alight. AP noted Israel’s 27 October election is close. Yesh Din’s tallies and Palestinian health-ministry figures are organisational counts, not sentences.

West Bank settlements are illegal under international law, a position Israel disputes. This article describes on-the-ground reporting and official reactions, not a court verdict on people in the field.

Image: Matson Collection / Library of Congress, olive groves near Taybeh, public domain, Wikimedia Commons; archive photograph, not the 16 October 2026 attack.

Sources consulted: Israeli settlers continue pogrom amid olive harvest in occupied West Bank — Al Jazeera; Israeli settlers attack Palestinians during West Bank olive harvest and beat U.S. photojournalist — PBS / AP.