Ceramics from the late Roman have been found here. Dauphin writes that ceramics from the Byzantine era also have been found, but Ellenblum writes that no pottery from that era has been found here. Diya al-Din refers to the presence of Muslims in Urif during his lifetime.
Ottoman era
Urif was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal of the Liwa of Nablus. It was noted as hali, empty, but a fixed tax rate of 33,3% was paid on various agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and/or beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 2,800 akçe. In 1838 Urif was noted as a Muslim village, part of Jurat Merda, located south of Nablus. In 1870, Victor Guérin found the village to occupy the top of a hill, and having about 450 inhabitants. In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Urif as: "A stone village, on high ground, with a few olives; supplied by wells and with a small spring to the east."
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Urif had a population of 270 Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 403; 402 Muslims and 1 Christian, in 103 houses. In the 1945 statistics the population was 520, all Muslims, while the total land area was 3,965 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 1,107 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 1,452 for cereals, while 32 dunams were classified as built-up areas.
On May 19, 2012, about 25 Jewish settlers, some of them carrying guns, set fire to the wheat fields of Urif, and shot one Palestinian man in the stomach.
On May 26, 2012, settlers from Yitzhar shot a youth from Urif. They then tied him up and proceeded to beat him. Samaria Regional Council head Gershon Mesika said that the shooting was a defensive act against a man who wielded a knife. The clash had started when a group of settlers were thought to have set fire to fields belonging to Urif, although the settlers denied any involvement.
In 2013, settlers from Yitzhar reportedly smashed the window of a mosque in Urif and tried to burn it down.
In July 2016, the IDF confiscated in Urif homemade weapons and ammunition, and lathes used to manufacture weapons, as well as apprehending four local Arab residents of Urif who sold such weapons.
In 2017, farmers from Urif were prevented from working on their land in Area B.
