The Israel election campaign's final stretch has seen senior politicians endorse settlement expansion and call for harsher security measures, while demolitions, settler violence and restrictions on movement have intensified across the West Bank. In Gaza, drone strikes and limited aid flows have driven rising civilian casualties and widespread infrastructure damage, with UNCTAD reporting 92% of economic establishments affected. International reconstruction offers have been conditioned on political and security demands, complicating relief and recovery prospects.
Election Posturing Fuels Settlement Push and Violence Across West Bank and Gaza
Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks behind a podium – on which 'Choosing victory, settling in Gaza' is written in Hebrew – during a Sukkot gathering outside Kibbutz Nir-Am on September 27, 2026, near the Israel-Gaza separation fence [Erik Marmor/Getty Images]
In the final weeks before Israel's election, hardline rhetoric and escalatory actions by senior politicians have coincided with intensified violence, settlement expansion and worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
Settlement Inauguration and Legalization
On September 23, ministers and members of parliament attended the founding ceremony for a new settlement named Metzoke Eretz in the occupied West Bank, a site that had previously been the Netzah Harel outpost. Politicians including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich framed the event as part of a broader drive to expand and legalize settlements; the current government has moved to legalise more than 100 outposts during its term, steps that remain illegal under international law.
Demolitions, Displacement and Restrictions
At the same time, demolitions continued in Masafer Yatta and elsewhere. Israeli forces razed 24 homes in the village of Jinba on September 23, displacing about 180 people, more than 80 of them children, according to human rights group B'Tselem. Authorities also announced a weeklong closure of West Bank crossings and roads for the Jewish holidays, with checkpoints and roadblocks around Ramallah and other towns producing heavy congestion and reports that ambulances were prevented from passing.
Settler Violence and Access to Sacred Sites
Incursions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound increased during the Sukkot holidays as thousands of settlers entered the site and far-right figures led religious visits. Reports from local agencies and activists documented settler attacks, including the uprooting and bulldozing of olive groves in Beit Ur al-Fauqa, Nabi Saleh and Beit Rima, theft of harvests in multiple villages, and physical assaults on residents in Farkha, Burqa and the Kaabneh community. Activists linked some operations to security claims, while noting many of the targeted areas are not near the incidents cited by authorities.
Political Rhetoric
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir released footage from an Israeli prison in which he threatened a jailed Hamas figure, while other ministers publicly urged stronger military action in the West Bank. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a defiant address to the United Nations General Assembly amid walkouts by some delegations.
Gaza: Strikes, Casualties and Humanitarian Collapse
Drone strikes and other attacks in Gaza continued to kill civilians and damage shelter and infrastructure. Local and activist tallies named multiple victims this week, including Jabr Muqbil (34), Osama Abu Khater, Mohammad Abu Elwan, 12-year-old Muhammad Sief al-Din al-Shakhrit, Oday Adli al-Assar (28), and Amal Khalid al-Ajla, who was killed in a rooftop strike on September 28. Gaza's Ministry of Health recorded another 27 deaths over the week, taking a post‑"ceasefire" toll to 1,421 and a cumulative reported death toll since October 2023 to more than 74,000.
Humanitarian conditions are dire: a UNCTAD report found that 92% of Gaza's economic establishments were damaged or destroyed. Aid deliveries remain constrained and international reconstruction pledges — including a $2.45bn package announced by envoy Nickolay Mladenov — have been linked by some actors to conditions such as the disarmament of Hamas.
Outlook
With elections days away, observers warn that election-season posturing risks further escalation on the ground, deepening displacement and humanitarian need across the occupied territories.
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