On Wednesday afternoon, 22 February 2023, a farmer told Ibrahim al-Mahariq (50) that settlers were plowing his land southwest of the town of a-Samu’. Al-Mahariq went to the plot with four relatives and found ten settlers there, one of whom was plowing the land, with three soldiers by his side. The settlers threw stones at the family members who shouted at them and demanded they leave their land. An altercation developed between the family members and the settlers, including swearing and shoving, and then a settler hit al-Mahariq in the face, in front of the soldiers. Al-Mahariq was injured and began bleeding. As this was happening, a tractor driven by a settler was speeding towards the family menacingly. The soldiers and one of the settlers ordered al-Mahariq and his relatives to sit on the ground, and the soldiers tried to separate between them and the settlers.
After about 15 minutes, more soldiers came in two military jeeps, arrested the five members of the al-Mahariq family and took them to a nearby military base and from there to the Kiryat Arba police station, where they were interrogated. Four of them were then released on bail, but Firas al-Mahariq (20) was kept in custody until Sunday, 5 March 2023, when he was also released after posting bail.