In the West Bank, Israeli settlers take over Palestinian's under-construction dream home

Palestinian Mohammad Salameh was building a home for his family in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where his recently engaged son was meant to start married life. Instead, before construction was complete, a group of Israeli settlers seized the property. Video filmed earlier in the week and verified by Reuters showed at least six settlers moving around on the roof of the two-storey house, which sits below a nearby hill. Salameh said appeals to the Israeli military and police brought no help. Now he fears his home, which like many others in the Palestinian territory is surrounded by Israeli settlements and smaller outposts, is lost forever. Other houses in the area could suffer the same fate, he said. “Only God knows, if there is law and order then they will leave,” Salameh said. “If they succeed in taking one, then the rest will follow.” Reuters was unable to reach the settlers for comment. One of them could be seen walking on the house’s roof on Thursday. An Israeli settler sits on the roof of the Palestinian Salameh family house, which was taken over by Israeli settlers in the village of Jalud in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on July 2, 2026. — Reuters The Israeli military said it was checking Reuters’ request for comment but had not responded by Friday. The Israeli police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Settlements, settler attacks widen under Netanyahu government The seizure of Palestinian land by settlers is a longstanding feature of life in the West Bank, where about 500,000 Israelis live among roughly three million Palestinians. Palestinians have for years reported damage to farmland, vandalism and attacks linked to settlement expansion. A UN inquiry reported last month that Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural land had surged since 2023, rising by 130pc. Residents of Jalud, Salameh’s village, say this week’s incident marks another troubling escalation because the settlers seized a house that was still under