Once every few months, the military blocks the entrances to the town of Kifl Hares, sets up roadblocks throughout the Palestinian town and even prohibits local residents from traveling by car or by foot in order to allow Jewish worshippers to visit tombs within the town, which they believe to be the holy resting sites of Yehoshua (Joshua) Bin Nun and Caleb Ben Yefune. The worshippers stay by the tombs for entire nights.
On Sunday afternoon, 16 April 2023, soldiers entered the town and forced business owners to close. At around 9:00 P.M. that night, several soldiers returned, stood at the entrance to the town for about 30 minutes and then left.
At around 11:30 P.M., hundreds of settlers entered the town with a military escort. Some of them attacked Palestinian homes with stones, smashing the glass panes of nine windows in three houses and the glass balcony railing of another. They also banged on the doors of other homes and businesses. When local residents asked the soldiers to protect them, the soldiers responded by attacking them with tear gas and stun grenades. The soldiers did the same to local youths who tried to hold back the attacking settlers by throwing stones at them. It was not until 3:30 A.M. that the soldiers made the settlers leave.
On 18 April 2023, B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’i took testimonies from four town residents whose homes were attacked by settlers:
Ayman Abu Y’aqub (45), a father of four, spoke about what happened that night:
My wife Sawsan (40) and I live on the first floor with our four children, Ahmad (17), Faten (15), Muhammad (13) and ‘Amid (8). My mother, Faten (65), lives in the apartment above us, and my brother Amjad (46) and his family live in the apartment next to hers.
On Sunday, 16 April 2023, at around 9:00 P.M., we were at home, and my mother was at our place too, when we heard noises outside. I looked out a window that faces the street and saw a few soldiers who, earlier that day, had forced me to close the shop we have under the house. They made all the business owners in the town close ahead of the settler invasion.
At around 11:30 P.M., we heard an explosion, and my daughter Faten came out of her room screaming and frightened. The settlers smashed the window of her room. I tried to calm her down and asked everyone to gather in the living room and stay away from the windows. I saw 13 to 15 settlers outside throwing stones at our house in front of about seven soldiers, who stood there and did nothing. I shouted to the soldiers in Hebrew: Can’t you see what they’re doing? The soldier threw a stun grenade in the direction of the house. It landed in the garden.
The settlers kept attacking us with stones for about half an hour. They knocked on the doors of the store and the house and swore at us. My son ‘Amid was shaking with fear. He told me he was afraid they’d kill me. His lips were trembling, and it made me very sad. It took about half an hour before soldiers came in three jeeps and drove them away, and then the soldiers also left.
But later that night, the settlers came back and attacked the house with stones again. They broke a total of four windows in our apartment and two windows in my mother’s apartment. They damaged the aluminum window frames in my brother Amjad’s apartment. Soldiers only came at 3:30 A.M. and drove them away. We’ve grown used to settler invasions into the town, but this was the first time they attacked our house, and the children were very scared.
Zubeidah Abu Y’aqub (50), a mother of four, said in her testimony:
My husband ‘Aqab (50) and I live with our three sons, Mu’tasem (20), Mustafa (18) and Ahmad (14). Our eldest daughter Hibah (21) is already married and lives with her husband in another house in town.
On Sunday, 16 April 2023, a little before midnight, I woke up to a loud noise of shattering glass. I went down to the first floor and found my husband and sons there in the living room. The settlers threw a lot of stones at the house and broke all the windows in the enclosed balcony. We heard the stones landing on the roof as well. I was very afraid for the children and didn’t know what to do. I went up to the second floor and looked through the window. I saw about 50 settlers standing in front of the house together with soldiers, and then one of the settlers climbed the fence and really tried to get into the yard, but luckily, he didn’t manage to. I was really scared. I was afraid they would burn down our house; I was afraid they were going to break into the house and set us on fire like they did in Huwarah. I went back to the living room and was so stressed and worried that I wasn’t able to utter a word. My son, Mu’tasem, washed my face and sprayed it with perfume to wake me up. After some time, my sons told me that more soldiers had arrived and fired tear gas at the settlers to get them away. It took a long time before the army managed to get the settlers away, and by the time it was over, my nerves were completely frayed.
Fayzah Saleh (58), a mother of six, said in her testimony:
My husband ‘Awad Saleh (60) and I live with our son, Yusef (23). On Sunday evening, 16 April 2023, our daughter Zeinab (31) visited us with her husband ‘Alaa (36) and their little boys Muhammad (8), Elias (6) and Jud (18 months) and a few other relatives.
My daughter and I were making cookies for the holiday (‘Eid al-Fitr), and then we heard shouting outside. I looked out the window and saw dozens of settlers along with soldiers. The settlers swore at us, and the young men who were in the house went out to the doorway and started swearing back at them. Then, the settlers threw disposable plates with food that they had with them at the house. The soldiers shouted at the young men and ordered them to go inside. After that, the soldiers also threw stun grenades and fired a tear gas canister at the house, and the settlers sprayed pepper spray in our direction and threw plastic bottles with water in them. It was scary. In the end, my husband came out, got all the young men back inside and locked the door. Thank God, no one was hurt, and there was no damage.
Shirin Barakat (40), a mother of five, said in her testimony:
My husband Taysir Saleh (49) and I live in Kifl Hares with our five children, Ne’meh (16), Jana (12), Maya (11), Amir (8) and Zen (4).
On Sunday, 16 April 2023, at around 11:30 P.M., when I was already in bed, trying to fall asleep, I heard a loud noise, like an explosion. I barely had time to get up, and then I heard another explosion. I went to the living room, and my children, who had woken up, were already there. I took them to the hallway, which is more protected because it has no windows. My husband went up to the roof to see what was happening. I was shaking with fear. I heard my husband shouting to the soldiers, asking them to intervene and stop the settlers. In the meantime, the settlers were banging on the front door and the door of the storage space below our house. It was a terrifying situation. They threw stones and broke three windows in our house, one in the living room and two in the children’s bedrooms. I was afraid they would break into the house and set it on fire. It wasn’t until around 3:30 A.M. that more soldiers came and drove the settlers away. But even after they were further away, they kept shouting and singing and harassing us. We couldn’t sleep that night.
We kept feeling scared. We were afraid they’d come back. The beds and the floor in the children’s rooms and the living room were covered with broken glass. Amir was still scared the next day and refused to go to school. Now, two days after the attack, he is still very freighted and has asked me to wait with him for the school bus.
