HEBRON, Saturday, January 14, 2023 (WAFA) – Dozens of people today suffocated from tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers at a protest in Masafer Yatta against an Israeli settler stealing a Palestinian-owned land and claiming it for himself, according to witnesses.

They said as Palestinians were protesting the stealing of the land by a settler in the Zwaidin community in Masafer Yatta in the south of the West Bank, soldiers confronted them and fired tear gas at them and at their homes, while kicking journalists and youths out of the area.

The soldiers also set up checkpoints on the roads to prevent supporters and residents of other nearby communities from reaching Zwaidin to protest the takeover of the land and held WAFA photographer Mashhour Wehwah for several hours before releasing him.

Lone or a group of settlers taking over large patches of land and setting up some kind of structure on it to claim it for themselves has been a growing worrying phenomenon in the occupied West Bank, particularly since the stealing of the land is done under the eyes and protection of the Israeli soldiers and government.

M.K.