Image source, Reuters Image caption, Masked settlers are accused of attacking the convoy ByJames Landale Diplomatic correspondent, Reporting fromJerusalem Published 17 October 2026 Updated 5 hours ago A delegation of European diplomats has been attacked by masked Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Belgium condemned the assault on its consul general and the other envoys, while France decried the attack as "appalling".
Both called for Israel to bring those responsible to justice.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also condemned what they called "the severe act of violence" and said they were investigating.
But the office of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cast doubt on what happened, suggesting it was part of a "co-ordinated campaign to smear Israel".
The attack came only a day after a number of Palestinians and Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photographer, were injured in a separate assault by settlers in another village in the West Bank.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the attack on Levine was "disturbing" and "not a good look".
It was also condemned by the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who called it a "despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards".
A staunch ally of Israel, Huckabee said the assailants must face "prosecution to the fullest extent of the law".
Figure caption, Rubio 'very disturbed' over video of West Bank settler attack on US journalist In Saturday's incident, the European diplomats - from Belgium, France, Poland and the Catholic Church - had come to the largely Christian village of Taybeh near Ramallah.
They were there to assess the situation on the ground after almost near daily attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians trying to bring in their olive harvest.
Video footage from the scene showed masked settlers confronting the convoy.
Reports suggest stones were thrown.
The Belgian authorities said a car from its consulate had a window smashed and a French mayor was assaulted.
Video showed a man wearing a French tricolor sash slumped beside a vehicle.
Belgium's foreign minister Maxime Prevot condemned the attack and said Israel had a responsibility to bring those responsible to justice, as well as ensuring the safety of diplomats, journalists and Palestinians.
"Palestinians face this violence every day.
Settlers also target journalists reporting on it and diplomats.
Harvesting olives, reporting the news or carrying out diplomatic duties should never put anyone at risk of attack," he said.
He also said Belgium will continue to press for EU sanctions against those responsible for the violence.
Image source, EPA Image caption, Palestinians have been harvesting olives in the West Bank this week before Israeli settlers attack France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot echoed those sentiments, calling on Israeli authorities to "urgently halt this criminal violence and guarantee the safety of civilian populations".
Poland's foreign affairs ministry also called for a "firm response" from Israeli authorities and for "an end to the spiral of violence in the West Bank".
The EU condemned the attacks, urged Israel to abide by international and human rights law, and end the expansion of settlements.
A spokesperson said that while they acknowledged some Israeli officials had condemned the attacks, they said they still expect "full accountability as well as effective measures" to stop the continued violence against Palestinians and journalists.
Gideon Sa'ar, Israel's foreign minister, said he strongly condemned the violence by what he called "Israeli rioters".
He said the foreign ministry was in contact with the ambassadors of the countries involved.
But he added: "Without detracting from the severity of the incident, it is unfortunate that the visit was not coordinated with the IDF in advance.
Such coordination could have helped safeguard the visitors' security." The IDF said they "strongly condemn the severe act of violence that took place in the area of Taybeh, during which diplomatic representatives were attacked by Israeli rioters." "According to a preliminary inquiry, no IDF soldiers were present at the scene at the time of the attack," they added.
Image source, Reuters Image caption, Netanyahu's office named the injured French official as Bernard Baudoux, the left-wing mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries But Netanyahu's office urged "caution before drawing conclusions" from reports about the attack.
It said the images on social media "do not establish the complete sequence of events or individual responsibility".
A statement continued: "Those circumstances remain under investigation.
Israeli police and forensic investigators have launched an investigation to establish the facts and identify those responsible." It added that "these reports come amid concerns about a coordinated campaign to smear Israel and the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria during the annual olive harvest, relying on sensational headlines before the full facts emerge".
Netanyahu's office named the injured French official as Bernard Baudoux.
The left-wing mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in northern France told the AFP news agency the attack showed a tolerance by Israel's right-wing government for settler violence.
The mayor said the settlers kicked him and beat him with iron bars, throwing him to the ground.
"It's the gratuitous nature of the violence that stuns me," he said.
"They arrived completely enraged." "The whole world needs to know what's happening there.
For me, I'll go back to my country and everything will be fine.
Those who continue to suffer the most are those who are here," he said.
