Solar panels smashed by settlers. Photo: ‘Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem
On Saturday, 8 February 2025, at around 4:00 P.M., while ‘Ali ‘Awad (27) was grazing his family’s sheep on lands belonging to the village of al-’Aqabah near their tents, two settlers arrived on an ATV and attacked him, punching and hitting him with sticks. ‘Ali’s father, Muhammad ‘Awad (49), who saw the attack from their home, took him to the hospital where he was treated and discharged several hours later.
Immediately after taking his son to the hospital, Muhammad ‘Awad moved the sheep to a site located about eight kilometers away from their tents, fearing another attack.
Around 7:00 P.M. that evening about 20 settlers arrived in vehicles. They tied six tents to cars, dragging and destroying them. They also pushed a water trailer down into a nearby valley and smashed solar panels.
Four days before the attack, a new outpost was established in the area near the Tayasir checkpoint. The shepherds have not returned to their encampment, which they normally occupy at night to watch their sheep, since the attack.
Mahmoud ‘Awad, 49, recounted in a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher ‘Aref Daraghmeh:
Around 4:00 P.M., while I was in our tent compound and my son ‘Ali was grazing the sheep nearby, two settlers on an ATV attacked him, punching and hitting him with sticks, and then left. I took him to the Turkish hospital in Tubas where he was treated and discharged the same day.
The tents destroyed by the settlers. Photo: ‘Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem
I went back to our tents, but village residents advised us to keep the sheep away from the area for fear of another settler attack. I took my flock to al-’Aqabah, about eight kilometers from our encampment. At around 7:00 P.M., more than 20 settlers arrived in cars and completely destroyed my tents. They threw the water trailer into the valley, dragged the tents with their cars, destroyed solar panels, and vandalized everything we had there. We watched from a distance but were afraid to approach.
The water trailer pushed down the slope by the settlers. Photo: ‘Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem
They destroyed everything, and we have nothing left there. We’ve now left this encampment, even though we used to go back after every settler attack. We’ve filed many complaints about this harassment, but the army and the police back them up.
Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank.
B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.
