Israeli settlers block Palestinian farmers from olive harvest near Jenin
UN data show 377 olive-harvest attacks by settlers across the West Bank between Sept. 1 and Nov. 2, exceeding any previous season.
Israeli settlers prevented Palestinian farmers from harvesting olives near the village of Anin, west of Jenin, on Saturday, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The olive grove lies next to the site of a newly established Israeli outpost.
In a separate incident, local sources said Israeli forces seized an agricultural tractor and quantities of harvested olives.
The same sources said forces briefly detained several Palestinians who were picking olives on their own land west of the town of Arraba, south of Jenin.
The incidents come amid a wider escalation of attacks by settlers and Israeli forces against Palestinian farmers during this year's harvest season, the agency said, with reports of physical assaults, theft of crops and equipment, and restrictions on access to farmland.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded 377 olive-harvest-related settler attacks across the occupied West Bank between Sept. 1 and Nov. 2, 2026.
OCHA said the total already exceeded the number recorded during any previous olive harvest season.
In its humanitarian update on Nov. 5, OCHA reported that 44 of the 49 Palestinian injuries linked to settler attacks in the period were associated with the olive harvest.
The olive harvest is an annual autumn activity in the West Bank, and many Palestinian families rely on the crop for income and food.
OCHA is the UN body that coordinates humanitarian responses to crises, including conditions in the occupied territories.