HEBRON, May 23, 2025 (WAFA) — Armed Israeli colonists stole more than 30 sheep early Friday from a Palestinian resident in Masafer Yatta region, located south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, in the latest incident of escalating settler violence aimed at displacing local communities.

Osama Makhmara, a local media activist, said that the colonists broke into the sheep pen of Ashraf Al-Amour in Khirbet al-Rakeez, a hamlet in Masafer Yatta, and carried out the theft late at night. Surveillance cameras in the area captured footage of the theft.

The colonists, armed and operating in groups, have intensified their attacks in the area, particularly since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza. Residents report an organized pattern of assaults involving livestock theft, property damage, and direct attacks on farmers and herders.

Multiple similar thefts have been reported recently in Masafer Yatta. In some cases, colonists have shot at or stoned livestock, damaged agricultural equipment, and destroyed property—all part of a broader strategy to force Palestinian residents off their land to make way for settlement expansion.

M.N