Israeli troops launched sweeping raids in and around Nablus earlier this month, with armoured vehicles and bulldozers pushing deep into the city.

The operation coincided with a surge in settler violence: between October 7th and 13th, settlers carried out at least 71 assaults on Palestinians across the occupied West Bank.

One Palestinian was killed and 99 were wounded.

Much of the aggression centred on the olive harvest, a vital season for Palestinian families whose livelihoods depend on the crop.

Half of the attacks struck farmers at work in 27 villages, leaving damaged fields and smashed trees.

More than 1,400 olive trees and saplings, many of them decades old, were uprooted or cut down.

The pattern is neither new nor isolated.

Over the past five harvests, settlers’ assaults have multiplied.

Last year alone, more than 200 incidents were recorded, nearly twice as many as in 2023 and three times the tally of 2022.

What was once sporadic harassment has hardened into a yearly campaign, eroding rural economies and deepening Palestinian despair amid expanding settlements and an increasingly heavy-handed military presence.