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Türkiye on Saturday issued a sharp condemnation of intensifying Israeli settler violence and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, calling for an immediate end to what it described as policies designed to erode the two-state solution and strip Palestinians of their fundamental rights.
The statement from the Foreign Ministry, dated March 21, denounced what it termed "settler terror" and the mounting pressure exerted by Israeli security forces against Palestinians.
Ankara said the violence and settlement activity had escalated sharply in recent months, and that the annexation-oriented policies Israel is pursuing in the territory represent a direct threat to both international law and regional stability.
"Ending settler terror that targets the fundamental rights of Palestinians, first and foremost the right to life, and Israel's annexation practices aimed at eroding the two-state solution, the key to lasting peace in the region, is a fundamental necessity in terms of both international law and the stability of the region," the ministry said in the statement, designated No. 54.
The Turkish statement arrives amid a wave of attacks that has drawn international alarm. Settlers shot dead a 28-year-old Palestinian man, Amir Moatasem Odeh, in the village of Qusra on March 14, with two others wounded in the same incident.
Days later, on March 15, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a family car near Tubas as the parents and their two children were returning from Nablus, where they had gone to buy Eid al-Fitr clothes; all four were killed.
In the northern Jordan Valley, settlers raided the community of Khirbet Humsa, where witness testimony described sexual assault, beatings, threats of rape, and the humiliation of women and children. An 81-year-old blind Palestinian man was beaten with sticks by settlers near Hebron.
Settlers who seized Palestinian land were even found to be boasting about their attacks in a WhatsApp group, sharing a list that included raids on 26 Palestinian villages, the injuring of 37 people, the burning of two mosques, and the torching of 16 homes and 19 vehicles during a single month.
The violence is driving what the United Nations has described as a crisis of forced displacement on a scale not seen before.
A UN report published on March 17 found that more than 36,000 Palestinians had been forcibly displaced from the West Bank between November 2024 and October 2025, a figure the rights office said amounted to unlawful mass transfer.
The report documented 1,732 incidents of settler violence causing casualties or property damage during that period, a 24-percent increase over the preceding year.
January 2026 alone saw nearly 700 Palestinians driven from their homes, the highest single-month figure since the Gaza war began in October 2023. Israel demolished 312 residential and agricultural structures in the first six weeks of 2026.
Data compiled by OCHA shows the number of settler attacks has risen sharply year over year: 852 recorded in 2022, 1,291 in 2023, 1,449 in 2024, and 1,828 in 2025, averaging five attacks per day.
Türkiye is not alone in raising the alarm. On the same day, diplomatic missions of 13 European countries and Canada issued a joint statement from Jerusalem and Ramallah strongly condemning what they called "increasing settler terror," demanding that Israel fulfill its obligations as occupying power to protect Palestinian communities.
Switzerland separately condemned the surge in violence earlier in the week, saying seven Palestinians had been killed since February 28 in settler attacks alone.
The European Council itself has called on its member states to pursue further restrictive measures against extremist settlers and the entities that support them.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin warned diplomats on Tuesday that settlers have been attacking Palestinians and their property daily, including through killings, arson, and destruction of agricultural land, "under the direct protection of the Israeli army."
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