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Israel’s top commander in the occupied West Bank boasted that the Israeli military is killing at rates not seen since 1967, according to comments published at Haaretz.
In a recent closed meeting with members of the military, Avi Bluth, head of the Israeli military’s Central Command, defended loosening the rules of engagement for firing at Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, saying that Israel is “killing like we haven’t since 1967.”
The year 1967 refers to Israel’s war on its neighbors — commonly called the Six Day War, and known to Palestinians as the Naksa — that culminated in the displacement of over 300,000 Palestinians and the start of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights.
Bluth said that, due to his new rules of engagement, Israeli soldiers can shoot Palestinians on or below the knees when they are approaching the “seam line” between the West Bank and Israel. This, he said, will create a deterrent effect that he called “barrier consciousness.” Referring to the large number of Palestinians who have been shot attempting to cross into Israel, Bluth said, “There are a lot of ‘limping monuments’ in Palestinian villages, of those who tried to [cross without Israel’s authorization], so there is a price being paid.”
The number of Palestinians attempting to cross from the West Bank into Israel without authorization has increased since October 7, 2023, Haaretz reports — but this is because Israel suspended over 100,000 work permits for Palestinians from the West Bank after the start of the genocide in Gaza. Since 1967, the Israeli economy has largely relied upon Palestinian migrant day labor, with Israel subordinating the occupied territories’ economies so that a significant segment of Palestinians are forced into precarious migrant labor within Israel. Of course, Bluth did not acknowledge this history, only attributing the increase in crossings to high rates of unemployment in the West Bank.
Bluth’s reference to the “seam line” speaks to Israel’s encroachments into the West Bank. The “seam line” seizes land beyond the 1949 Green Line — the boundary separating Israel from the occupied territories, which marked Israel’s de facto border from 1949 until 1967 — and places approximately 10 percent of the West Bank in a restricted “closed area.” Israel has long refused to accept the Green Line, while allowing for the expansion of major settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are illegal under international law.
Later in his remarks, Bluth admitted that the Israeli army deals differently with Israelis and Palestinians who throw stones in the West Bank. Palestinian stone-throwers are engaging in “terrorism,” he said, boasting that “In 2025, we killed 42 [Palestinian] stone-throwers.” But when asked about Israeli settlers in the West Bank who have thrown rocks at vehicles, Bluth said that if “soldiers fire on Jews” there are “profound sociological consequences.” He recalled several incidents of settlers throwing stones and said that the Israeli army’s use of violence against settlers has in the past caused public outcry. “We prefer to resolve these with other means,” he said, admitting that, “yes, it involves discrimination.”
Bluth then boasted that he is “constantly turning [Palestinian] villages into conflict zones.” Speaking of the rates of killing in the occupied West Bank, Bluth added, “We’ve killed 1,500 terrorists in three years. So how come there is no intifada? Why don’t they take to the streets?”
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), since October 7, 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 1,080 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, at least 235 of whom were children. Thirty-five Palestinians have been killed since the start of 2026.
Bluth’s comments come as he faces rising criticism from forces even further to the right in Israel, who claim that he has been too harsh on the settler movement, as he has criticized settler attacks that took place without coordination with the army. Last week, Bluth called settler violence “Jewish terror” and warned that these attacks and the government’s inaction could trigger a Palestinian uprising.
Settler violence in the occupied West Bank has intensified in 2026, with settlers carrying out fatal shootings, sexual assaults, arsons, and mass intimidation campaigns against Palestinians on a daily basis.
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