Updated: The number of Palestinians killed by illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers since the beginning of the year, 2026, has risen to 16, following the announcement of the killing of Odah Atef Awawda, from the town of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah, on Wednesday. The victims include children as young as 13 and adults up to 60 years old.
The figure increases to 50 Palestinians killed by colonizers since October 7, 2023, according to updated data issued by the Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission.
Commission head Mu’ayyad Shaaban stated that the intensifying colonizer attacks in the towns east of Ramallah reflect a rapidly escalating pattern of organized assaults targeting Palestinian residents and their lands.
He emphasized that Israeli occupation forces provide direct cover for these assaults, which form a deliberate strategy to establish new colonial facts on Palestinian land.
Awawda was killed after succumbing to a live gunshot wound to the back, fired by armed colonizers during an attack on the outskirts of Deir Dibwan.
Medical teams at the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah confirmed that he arrived in critical condition before being pronounced dead.
Local sources reported that large groups of colonizers infiltrated the area and opened fire at Palestinian civilians.
On Tuesday, colonizer violence claimed the lives of three more Palestinians:
- Aws Hamdi Al‑Na’san, 13,
- Jihad Marzouq Abu Naim, 35,
who were both shot with live ammunition during a colonizer attack on Al‑Mughayyir Boys’ School, northeast of Ramallah;
and - Mohammad Majdi Al‑Ja‘bari, 15, who was killed after being run over by a colonizer’s vehicle in Hebron.
The Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission has reported that Israeli occupation forces and colonizers carried out 1,819 attacks across the occupied West Bank during March 2026 alone. Of these, 1,322 attacks were carried out by Israeli forces, while colonizers committed 497 attacks.
The Commission added that these attacks were concentrated primarily in:
- Hebron Governorate – 321 attacks.
- Nablus Governorate – 315 attacks.
- Ramallah & Al‑Bireh Governorate – 292 attacks.
- Jerusalem Governorate – 203 attacks.
This distribution, the Commission noted, reflects a systematic and geographically targeted escalation against Palestinian communities in these areas.
The Commission reiterated that the ongoing colonizer violence, coupled with military protection and coordinated invasions by Israeli forces, represents a deliberate strategy to expand colonial control, displace Palestinian residents, and undermine their presence on the land.
