HEBRON, June 17, 2025 (WAFA) – A Palestinian on Tuesday evening sustained wounds in an attack by Israeli colonists in Masafer Yatta, south of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, according to a media activist.

Osama Makhamra said that Israeli colonists assaulted Umran Ismail Nawajaa, inflicting wounds in his head and requiring him to be hospitalized.

The assailants came from the Suseya colony.

Meanwhile, colonists grazed their livestock on Palestinians’ cultivated lands in Khirbet al-Qawawis, and chased shepherds and assaulted their sheep in Wadi Ma‘in.

Masafer Yatta comprises 19 hamlets, which rely heavily on animal husbandry as their primary 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 settlers 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.