RAMALLAH, Monday, February 17, 2020 (WAFA) - Armed Israeli settlers attacked today Palestinian shepherds while they were grazing their livestock in the town of al-Mughayyir, to the northeast of Ramallah city, and injured some of them, said the town`s mayor Marzouq Abu Naim.

He told WAFA that dozens of settlers chased the Palestinian shepherds out of the grazing fields and brutally beat them up injuring five of them with bruises and fractures, three of whom were evacuated to a nearly hospital for treatment due to their severe conditions.

Abu Naim said that Israeli forces deliberately installed a flying checkpoint at the entrance of the village following the attack and prevented anyone from reaching the attacked shepherds.

Al-Mughayyir, a town with an area of 26,000 dunums, is surrounded by four Israeli colonial settlements and with a military camp.

Israeli forces almost daily attack Mughayyir residents, seize hundreds of dunums of their land and prevent construction in some parts of the village under the pretext it is classified as Area C, under full Israeli administrative and military control.

Israeli forces also consider the land located to the east of the village as a closed military zone and that farmers are not allowed to reach their land or to graze their livestock in that area.

M.K.