BETHLEHEM, October 10, 2026 (WAFA) – Israeli colonists brutally assaulted and briefly detained four elderly Palestinian farmers for several hours on Saturday while they were harvesting olives on their land near an Israeli colony built on Palestinian land south of Bethlehem.

Palestinian security sources told WAFA that a group of colonists attacked the farmers while they were picking olives on their own land, held them for several hours and severely beat them.

The victims were identified as Taher Ahmad Najajreh, 64; Ziad Younis Subh, 60; Ibrahim Yaqoub Issa, 63; and Ibrahim Mohammad Issa, 64.

The source added that Ibrahim Issa was particularly severely assaulted and transferred to hospital, where he remains in a coma in the intensive care unit.

In a separate incident, Israeli occupation forces set up a military checkpoint at the southern entrance to Bethlehem, stopping Palestinian vehicles, searching them and checking passengers’ identification documents.

The attack comes amid an escalation in colonist violence targeting Palestinian farmers and their land during the olive harvest season. Several areas across the Bethlehem governorate have witnessed repeated attacks, including assaults on farmers, preventing them from accessing their land, damaging olive trees and stealing harvested olives.

Last Tuesday, colonists stole olives and damaged 40 trees on land belonging to the village of Abu Njeim, southeast of Bethlehem, as part of ongoing attacks targeting Palestinian agricultural land and property.

M.N