SALFIT, Wednesday, September 23, 2020 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers today chopped a number of olive trees in the northern West Bank town of Bidya, according to a Palestinian official.

Walid Assaf, head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, told WAFA that settlers, protected by soldiers, broke into an area of the town known as Khillet Hassan and chopped dozens of olive trees.

He said residents rushed to the scene to protect their trees and lands against the intruders.

Khillet Hassan and nearby areas have been constant targets of Israeli army and settlers incursions and destruction of property and trees as part of Israeli efforts to empty the land of its Palestinian owners for the purpose of expanding illegal settlements.

Last week, the Israeli army destroyed 200 trees in the same area and a month earlier destroyed another 200 trees in a nearby area as bulldozers worked on leveling the land.

T.R./M.K.