JERICHO, April 15, 2025 (WAFA) — Israeli colonists assaulted a Palestinian shepherd on Tuesday evening while he was grazing his livestock in Wadi Qelt, west of Jericho, and stole 250 sheep, according to a local official.

According to Hassan Malihat, the general supervisor of the Al-Baydar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights, a group of colonists physically assaulted a Palestinian shepherd while he was herding his father's sheep near Wadi Qelt area. The colonists also destroyed his mobile phone before stealing 250 sheep.

According to Reliefweb, since October 2023, Israel has stepped up its efforts to drive dozens of Palestinian shepherding communities in the northern Jordan Valley out of their homes and lands. “Through cooperation and collaboration among the military, police, settlers and the Jordan Valley Regional Council, Israel has reduced grazing areas available to Palestinians, blocked regular water supply and took measures to isolate the Jordan Valley from the rest of the West Bank.”

“This policy is nothing new. Israel has been undermining these communities’ subsistence for decades, in part, by denying Palestinians’ access to nearly 80% of the Jordan Valley declared as firing zones, nature reserves or the municipal area of settlements. Israel uses these zoning declarations to justify its refusal to approve building plans that would allow residents of these pastoral communities to build homes legally and connect to water and electricity infrastructure. On top of this, with full backing and protection from the military and the police, settlers subject residents of these communities to severe violence on a daily basis. This policy imposes impossible living conditions on Palestinian residents of the Jordan Valley.”

T.R.