Palestinians complain of settlers attacking their agricultural crops in villages in the occupied West Bank

Settlers' attacks were renewed on Saturday morning in several villages in the occupied West Bank, coinciding with the advent of the olive harvest season. The attacks were concentrated in the villages surrounding the city of Nablus, such as the villages of Beita, Burin, and Osrin, according to local Palestinian sources.

The sources reported that dozens of Israeli settlers attacked the homes of Palestinians and farmers in the village of Osrin, south of Nablus, where they were harvesting trees on their lands. Casualties were recorded among the Palestinians who were assaulted and beaten by the settlers.

Among the wounded was Palestinian Ghassan Adili, who suffered serious injuries as a result of being beaten with sticks and stones by settlers, according to the testimony of his relative, Caesar Odeh, to the BBC.

He added, "The attack by dozens of settlers took place between homes west of the town of Osrin, and it was sudden and without warning. Settlers attacked Ghassan and his mother with clubs and stones at the door of the house. They also attacked Hossam Adili as he was picking olive trees on his land adjacent to the house."

According to him, Hossam was transferred to "the Arab Hospital in the city of Nablus. He has a severe injury and fractures in the head and back area, and his condition is dangerous and unstable despite having undergone surgery. His mother also has bruises and a broken face."

Caesar describes what happened to his relatives as "criminal."

For his part, the head of the village council in Osrin, Mubarak Adili, explained to the BBC that what happened on Saturday morning was “during the Palestinian families in our town harvesting olive trees, and the settlers’ attacks were renewed in a serious and significant manner, as dozens of settlers attacked the Palestinian farmers and we had injuries, one of them serious, in intensive care. We wish them safety.”

He added that the attack was "with clubs, axes, and stones on homes and lands," pointing out that the town "has witnessed attacks on an almost daily basis for more than six months, especially since we are located between two settlements established on the lands of our village and the neighboring villages. For the Palestinian farmer, there is only an olive branch, but they burned the lands and crops and cut down the olive trees. We rely annually on what remains of our olive trees to provide a decent living, but unfortunately every day there is a new attack."

During renewed settler attacks in the village of Beita, south of the city of Nablus, a number of journalists faced what they described as difficult times during their field coverage, including Palestinian journalist Wahaj Bani Mufleh, who told the BBC: “We accompanied a group of Palestinian families to the Qammas area in the town of Beita to prepare reports about the olive tree harvesting season. My colleague Alaa Badarneh and I moved with a number of colleagues in the area because of the importance of collective journalistic action in the field, but when we arrived we were surprised by large numbers of settlers in "Then there was shooting, and the settlers came very close to us."

He added that after that, “we took shelter inside a house, then the Israeli army stormed the area with a civilian car driven by a settler. We filmed the events even though it was an hour of anxiety, fear and tension due to the attacks, especially since the settler did not differentiate between a citizen or a journalist...”

Since Saturday morning, the village of Beita, south of the city of Nablus, has witnessed renewed settler attacks on Palestinian farmers while they were picking the fruits of olive trees, specifically in the area of ​​Qammas and Jabal Al-Arma, where local sources monitored settlers firing live bullets and detaining a number of Palestinians and foreign activists who were in the area.

On Friday evening, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the killing of the Palestinian young man, Bahaa al-Natsheh (19 years old), by settlers’ bullets after their renewed attacks in the village of Kober, north of the city of Ramallah, according to the ministry’s statement. The death toll rose to 30 Palestinians killed by settlers’ bullets since the beginning of this year, an increase that Palestinian officials describe as dangerous and unprecedented since 2022.

Meanwhile, local sources confirmed that the town of Kobar witnessed on Friday evening an Israeli army raid, which included the firing of tear gas bombs, resulting in a Palestinian being injured by a bomb in the head.

The Palestinian Authority to Resist the Wall and Settlements says that the suffering of Palestinian farmers will worsen during this year’s olive harvest season, compared to previous years, in light of the escalation of settler attacks under the protection of the Israeli army, which threatens the loss of large quantities of olive crops and deprives farmers of safe access to their lands to harvest olive trees.