HEBRON, Sunday, January 03, 2021 (WAFA) – Colonial Israeli settlers today attacked Palestinian herders and chased them off pastures in the area of Msafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to a local source.

Fo'ad Omour, an official in charge of monitoring Israeli settlements in Hebron, told WAFA that a group of settlers from the illegal settlements of Ma'on and Carmel, nearby, assaulted the herders while grazing their livestock in the area and forced them to leave. No injuries were reported.

Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians are commonplace, but assaults on defenseless Palestinian communities across the West Bank, including on farmers and herders, have seen a surge in the recent few weeks.

Most of these attacks occurred in the presence of the Israeli occupation army, which did nothing to stop the attacks and rather provided protection for settler vandals.

Armed settlers and soldiers often prevent Palestinian shepherds from herding in the open pastures of the occupied West Bank in order to force them to abandon the area.

M.N