HEBRON, May 12, 2025 (WAFA) – A Palestinian elderly on Monday evening sustained an injury in an attack by Israeli colonists in Masafer Yatta, south of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, according to a local activist.

Osama Makhamra said that armed colonists, escorted by the occupation forces, grazed their livestock on Palestinian-owned cultivated land, located between Qawawis and Shi’b Al-Butum, destroying crops and fruit trees.

Makhamra noted that the assailants came from the colonial outpost of Mizpe Yair South.

He added that the Palestinian villagers attempted to fend off the encroachment upon their land, but were assaulted by the colonists, with an elderly person sustaining bruises.

The assailants opened fire at the villagers, but without resulting in any casualties, at a time when the occupation soldiers held some villagers for over half an hour.

Masafer Yatta is a collection of almost 19 hamlets that rely heavily on animal husbandry as the main source of livelihood.

Located in Area C of the West Bank, under full Israeli administrative and military control, the area has been subjected to repeated Israeli violations by colonists and soldiers targeting their main source of living - livestock.

It has been designated as a closed Israeli military zone for training since the 1980s and accordingly referred to as Firing Zone 918.

Israeli violations against the area include demolition of animal barns, homes, and residential structures. The issuance of construction permits by Israel to local Palestinians in the area is non-existent.

Colonists’ violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

Colonists’ violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, and attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.

Approximately 1 million Israeli colonists are living in colonies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in violation of international law.

K.F.