The extended Abu Na’im family lives in Wadi Qatunyah, located in the al-Khalayel area, on lands belonging to the village of al-Mughayir. Three nuclear families make up the extended family: Rizeq Abu Na’im, 69, and his wife live next to their son Hamam, his wife Fatimah, and their children. Another married son, Ayham, lived with his wife and children in a nearby encampment until July 2024, when the family was forced out by settlers and soldiers who came from the direction of an outpost set up in April. They moved to a site closer to al-Mughayir. At the time, the extended family had already moved their flock closer to the village, fearing settlers would steal it, as they had from other Palestinians in the area. On Friday, 9 May 2025, around 9:00 A.M., while a man from the community was grazing a flock near the homes and his wife and children were buying vegetables from a traveling vendor who pulled over near a neighboring encampment, armed settlers arrived from a nearby outpost in a Toyota and on ATVs. They were soon joined by two military vehicles and headed toward the area where the husband was grazing the flock. He immediately moved the animals toward the nearby village and warned his wife not to return home yet, fearing an attack. Settler violence against Palestinians in the area had increased since the outpost was established. The rest of the family, along with protective presence activists, left the house and joined the mother and children.
About an hour later, the settlers and soldiers returned to the neighbor’s encampment where the family was staying. They detained the family members, confiscated an activist’s camera, and questioned the family and activists about stones allegedly thrown at the settler’s Toyota. At the same time, the mother received a call from her 13-year-old son, who told her that an ATV with settlers was approaching their home. The soldiers did not let the family return home. Meanwhile, some youths from the nearby village of al-Mughayir, who had heard what was happening, began advancing toward the area, and the soldiers flew a drone toward them. The soldiers and settlers remained in the area for about half an hour, wandering around the tents. Only after they left were the family members able to return home. On the way, they found the activist’s camera discarded and missing its battery and memory card. When they arrived home, they discovered that in their absence, settlers had broken into their tents, overturned furniture, spilled food, scattered and broken kitchenware, damaged property, and stolen a computer and phone belonging to the activists, as well as binoculars and a radio belonging to the family’s grandfather.
The next day, Saturday, 10 May 2025, around 3:00 P.M., two teenagers from the outpost brought their flock to graze near the community’s living area. After a while, the settler in the Toyota, another armed settler on an ATV, and a military vehicle joined them. The teenagers advanced with the flock toward the family.
Fatimah Abu Na’im, 31, a mother of five, gave the following testimony to B’Tselem field researcher Mohammad Romaneh:
The two teenagers came to where I was standing with the children. One of them, who spoke fluent Arabic, started asking about my flock. He asked for my son by name and said he was going to kill him. They started filming us with their phones and held them right up to our faces. When one of them came close to me with his phone, I tried to push him away. The two older settlers came over right away, and the one who was armed came up to me and tried to hit me with his gun. Two soldiers, who had come after the settlers, stopped him from hitting me, but instead, he hit the solidarity activist in the chest. The settlers stayed and continued to threaten and confront us until about 7:00 P.M. That whole time, the settler who was grazing the flock threatened us, and the soldiers laughed at us and made fun of us.
Our lives are now constantly in danger. The settlers come whenever they want, attack us, and no one stops them. The army and police who come to the area only protect them, which gives them legitimacy to continue. These attacks are meant to drive us out of the area. Since the attacks got worse, we really have started considering leaving, especially because the settlers have also threatened our children. For now, they’re ‘content’ with damaging our property and intimidating us, but we’re afraid the attacks will get to our children at any moment.