Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have risen sharply since the 7 October terror attacks by Hamas – and international volunteers defending Palestinian civilians are also increasingly being targeted. French academic Albane Buriel tells RFI she was assaulted with iron bars while taking part in a "protective presence" mission with an Israeli NGO.
Buriel moves slowly because she is in pain. She points to the very large bruise on her back.
“I was beaten by [people who] were probably settlers, who set fire to the place where I was staying and struck us around 20 times with crowbars,” she told RFI's correspondent in Jerusalem.
The French researcher, who specialises in education sciences, arrived in Jerusalem around 10 days ago to volunteer with the Israeli non-profit Torat Tzedek.
Set up by Rabbi Arik Ascherman in 2017, the organisation provides what it calls a "protective presence" in Palestinian villages in the West Bank.
Volunteers remain day and night with the most vulnerable Bedouin communities in order to deter attacks by Israeli settlers.
Buriel is no stranger to conflict zones, having worked in Iraq and Syria. "Protective presence is intended, in a peaceful way, to protect civilians," she says.
West Bank Bedouin community driven out by Israeli settler violence
Masked assailants
The assault took place on 17 January in the Bedouin village of Mukhmas, between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
Buriel was woken up by one of the inhabitants at about 9pm to see 20 masked people heading towards her.
“They arrived at full speed and I saw they had iron bars and they started throwing stones at me," she says. "There was a car in front of me, so I lay down on the ground and one of them struck me directly with a very heavy metal bar. I was alone at that moment."
She says another person set fire to the car she was sheltering against.
Buriel was joined by an American volunteer and the pair tried to run away but the researcher says she was hampered by her painful injuries. The attackers caught up with them and beat her colleague.
“Crowbar blows to a body are really horrific." She recalls his scream and says he was beaten in the same way – with 15 to 20 blows.
"I have the impression it was controlled enough to be done without killing. This violence appears to be systemic," she added.
A Palestinian from the village was also seriously injured.
Albane filed a complaint in Israel and has since returned to France.
UN accuses Israel of West Bank 'apartheid'
Rise in assaults
In a separate incident, The Guardian reported that a French national was among international volunteers attacked by "a gang of eight masked Israeli settlers armed with clubs" when they raided a Palestinian family home near Ramallah on 7 December.
A 13-year-old Palestinian boy, his grandmother and activists working with the International Solidarity Movement from Colombia, the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as France, were injured in the attack.
Data from the United Nations Office for the Coordonation of Humanitarian Affairs shows settlers carried out more than 750 attacks on Palestinians and their property during the first half of 2025, with an average of nearly 130 assaults a month.
According to the Israeli army, settler violence rose by 27 percent in 2025, compared to the previous year. Ten Palestinians have been killed in attacks by settlers and nearly 400 injured since 2024.
The military says it tries to prevent the attacks, but an investigation by the New York Times last year found that the Israeli authorities have failed to impose significant restraints on settlers committing crimes.
This article was adapted from the original version in French.
