Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced on Wednesday that it is difficult for Israel to stop attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians. In a statement to the Knesset, he described the perpetrators as a "small group" and mentioned that there are suspects in custody and that the forces in the West Bank have been strengthened as a precaution. Gallant added that Israeli forces will face a challenge in "distributing their attention" between riots and threats from Palestinian militants, stating, "There are 500 Palestinian villages, some as large as towns. There are tens of thousands of Palestinian residents. It is impossible to protect each of them at once."
The violence in the West Bank has caused a rift between the Israeli religious nationalist government and Israeli security leaders, who issued a joint statement on Saturday describing the settler attacks as "national terrorism." This provoked outrage among Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right allies, who have often downplayed the scale and impact of settler attacks. One of them compared the security leaders' statement to the recent rebellion of the Russian private military group Wagner but quickly apologized after his comments stirred public anger.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi stated that officers cannot stand by and watch the attacks, which have faced strong criticism from the United States. Washington has escalated its condemnation of what it described as "extremist settler violence," noting that some of the affected Palestinians are American citizens. There is an ongoing disagreement between Washington and Israel regarding settlement expansion.
