On Wednesday, 3 July 2024, at 6:00 P.M., while members of the al-Kabash family were grazing their sheep along with other shepherds in Wadi al-’Alali agricultural area, southwest of a-Samu’, they saw settlers riding an ATV and two motorcycles approaching ‘Ali al-Kabash’s pickup truck, which was parked about 500 meters away. Two family members, Muhammad al-Kabash (26) and his cousin Yusef al-Kabash, ran to the truck. Muhammad sat in the driver’s seat and started the engine, and Yusef climbed into the truck’s cargo box. At this point, two of the settlers reached the truck. One of them damaged the side view mirror, while the other opened the driver’s side door and shot Muhammad al-Kabash in the arm. Muhammad managed to drive away, but after driving for about 200 meters, the settler fired two bullets, hitting the truck bed, where Yusef was sitting. The settlers then left. At this point, Muhammad’s uncle, ‘Ali al-Kabash (43), the truck’s owner, also arrived and drove Muhammad to the government hospital in Yatta. He underwent surgery to fix a fracture in his arm and was discharged two days later.
On the day of the incident, ‘Ali al-Kabash found out through social media he and Muhammad were accused of a car ramming attack and went to the Kiryat Arba police station, where he was questioned about the incident. He showed the interrogator a video of the incident that was filmed by one of the shepherds. The interrogator ordered him to surrender his truck at the police station in Gush Etzion, which he did. The interrogator also called his nephew Muhammad in for questioning on Sunday, 7 July 2024. Muhammad reported for questioning regarding a suspected car ramming attack at the appointed time. He was questioned and released two hours later with no further action. Al-Kabash’s truck was eventually returned to him by the police.
B’Tselem field researcher Basel al-Adrah collected testimonies from Muhammad and ‘Ali al-Kabash on 9 July 2024:
In his testimony, Muhammad al-Kabash, 26, a married father of three, spoke about being shot and injured by a settler:
I make my living from shepherding, and we have a flock of about 350 head. My family and I now live in Kallet al-Masid in a-Samu’, south of Hebron. I have 500 dunams of land in the Wadi al-’Alali area, southwest of a-Samu’, and I have some agricultural structures there. My wife, the children and I lived there until, on 8 October 2023, right after the war began, people in uniform who I think were settlers started roaming around our area, and we left out of fear. The very next day, on 9 October 2024, settlers destroyed our structures, one of which served as our residence and the other as a feed storage and sheep pen. They destroyed the animal feed, scattering it on the ground, and took over three water cisterns in the area that we used to water the sheep when we grazed there.
About two weeks ago, we returned to graze the sheep in the Wadi al-‘Alali area, because other pastureland is in short supply, but the settlers have come three times on ATVs and motorcycles and forced us out. We had to run away with the flock each time.
On Wednesday, 3 July 2024, I got there in a pickup truck that carried the flock along with my uncles ‘Ali and Fadel, and ‘Ali’s son Yusef. There were other shepherds in the area when we got there. We usually go to the area in groups because of the settler attacks.
Around 6:00 P.M., while we were grazing the sheep, a settler ATV arrived and stopped on the mountain opposite. About ten minuts later, two motorcycles arrived too. I walked with ‘Ali, Fadel and Yusef toward ‘Ali’s pickup truck, which we parked on a dirt road 500 meters from where we were. We wanted to move it because we were afraid the settlers would damage it. As we advanced toward the truck, we saw the settlers coming towards it from the other side with the ATV. My uncle gave me the key and told me to run to the truck to move it. Yusef and I ran, and when we got to the car, I got in and started it, and Yusef climbed into the cargo box. The settlers also got to the truck on the ATV and motorcycles. I was about to turn the car around, but I didn’t make it in time. The two settlers got off their motorcycles, and one of them broke the truck’s side-view mirror. The other settler opened the door and fired a bullet that hit my right arm, then they both walked away. I drove quickly for about 200 meters, and then the settlers fired two more bullets at us, one of which hit the cargo box, where Yusef was. The other one missed us.
We reached my uncle Ali, and I got out of the truck and switched to the passenger seat, and my uncle got into the driver’s seat and sped to the government hospital in Yatta. At the hospital, they did tests and found I had a fractured arm. I had surgery and was kept in the hospital for two days.
In the meantime, the police called me in for questioning on suspicion of attempting to run over the settlers. I went for questioning at the Kiryat Arba police station on Sunday, 7 July 2024, denied this allegation and told them exactly what happened.
‘Ali al-Kabash, 43 and married, spoke about the assault and being questioned as a suspect in a car ramming attack in his testimony:
On Wednesday, 3 July 2024, around 6:00 P.M., we were out grazing with the sheep. Our pickup truck was parked on a flat agricultural road, about 500 meters away from us. We saw a settler ATV coming from the bypass road towards us and stopping in the middle of the road. I was worried they would head over to us and harm the sheep or the truck, so I started walking towards it to move it out of the way.
After ten minutes, we saw two motorcycles coming towards the ATV. I started advancing faster towards the truck to get there before they did, and Muhammad and Yusef joined me. The motorcycles got to where the ATV was, and they drove together towards the truck. I asked Muhammad and Yusef to run quickly to the truck because they’re faster and gave them the keys.
Muhammad and Yusef got to the truck and got inside just as the settlers, about five of them, pulled up to it. Two of them attacked the truck. I saw the truck door being opened and heard a gunshot. I started running to the truck with my brother Fadel and other shepherds. I saw the truck trying to turn around with my son Yusef sitting in the cargo box. The settler fired two bullets at the truck, which had driven about 200 meters and stopped. The settlers fled in the direction they came from. I rushed to the car and saw Muhammad bleeding from his right arm. He got out and then climbed into the passenger seat. I got in the truck and drove straight to the Yatta Government Hospital.
Later, we saw a report on social media about a car ramming attack in the a-Samu’ area. I knew they meant what happened to us. I took the video that one of the shepherds filmed and went to the Kiryat Arba police station to get ahead of the army coming to us. I got to the police station, and they interrogated me and accused me of an attempted car ramming attack. I showed the video to the interrogator and told him exactly what happened. He asked me to bring Muhammad for questioning on Sunday and surrender the truck at the Etzion station, south of Bethlehem. We surrendered the truck that day, and they’re still holding it.