Tel Aviv (National Times) As violence surges in the occupied West Bank, Palestinians and human rights groups decry an increasingly blurry distinction between the Israeli army and settlers, emboldened by the current pro-settlement government, AFP reports.

In the West Bank, the “line that never really existed between the army and the settlers” has now “been completely erased”, said Joe Carmel, advocacy coordinator for Breaking the Silence, an Israeli anti-occupation NGO made up of former soldiers.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded 1,096 settler attacks on Palestinians in the territory between October 7 and March 31.

That represents an average of six attacks per day, up from two a day in 2022. Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, which also records settler violence, said 2023 was already a peak year.

With each attack, a similar story — armed settlers, sometimes wearing the army’s khaki fatigues, attack Palestinian villagers, burn their houses and cars, and steal their livestock, sometimes under the passive gaze of soldiers.