Israeli settlers and soldiers have sabotaged or destroyed at least 57 Dutch aid projects on the West Bank since 2017 but a third of the cases were ignored by the government, an investigation by Investico, Trouw, and the Groen Amsterdammer has found.

The projects include building water tanks for Palestinian farmers, roads to isolated villages and solar panels for communities without access to electricity.

Incidents such as the destruction of water tanks and the theft of solar panels in the village of Wadi al-Sadiq when its inhabitants were forced to flee in October last year have increased since the beginning of the war on Gaza on October 7.

The settlers, who include Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, are backed by the Israeli army and have caused “substantial damage” to the Dutch aid projects, the foreign ministry confirmed.

The ministry said it applies for financial compensation from the Israeli government when an incident takes place but, based on email traffic between ministry staff and government documents, this did not happen in a third of all known cases.

“Good morning, this weekend machinery from a Dutch project has been confiscated. In another location a road has been destroyed” an email from 2018 reads.

According to Investico, ministry staff decided not to inform MPs or demand compensation from the Israeli government to give the local population the chance to rebuild the road “without any fuss” so as not to provoke more destruction by the settlers.

Middle East expert Erwin van Veen said the foreign affairs ministry’s professed opposition to the Israeli encroachment of the West Bank is not backed up by action.

He said there are “numerous ways” the Dutch government could put pressure on the Israeli government but is unwilling to do so.