(MENAFN) The ongoing olive harvest period in the occupied West Bank has witnessed the most severe wave of unlawful settler assaults in the past five years, according to a UN agency’s report released on Saturday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced in a statement that a total of 126 incidents were documented across 70 Palestinian towns and villages.

During these attacks, more than 4,000 olive trees and young saplings were destroyed or damaged.

“The 2025 olive harvest season has so far witnessed the highest level of damage and number of affected communities due to settler attacks since 2020,” the agency emphasized.

According to OCHA, 60 of the recorded incidents involved direct physical aggression toward Palestinian residents. At least 17 individuals sustained injuries, and 19 vehicles were damaged just within the last week.

The UN body further reported that unlawful Israeli settlers from recently established outposts have been imposing entry bans on Palestinian farmers at various sites, blocking them from reaching their olive groves during the harvest period.

On Saturday, unlawful Israeli settlers allegedly attacked Palestinian olive harvesters in the village of Burin, located south of Nablus, and physically assaulted several of them, an official news outlet stated.

The report by the outlet detailed that settlers stormed farmlands situated between Burin and the nearby town of Huwara, where they struck multiple pickers and compelled them to abandon the fields.

Additionally, the news outlet mentioned that the assailants scattered the olives that had already been gathered, leaving the fruit strewn across the ground.

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