On Thursday, 17 July 2025, at around 9:30 P.M., three settlers, one carrying a handgun, arrived in a car at the residential compounds of brothers Salem and Suliman Najadah (Ka’abneh) in an area known as Little Meyteh in Hamamat al-Maleh, about 300 meters northwest of the community of Khirbet al-Maleh. The two compounds are located about 50 meters apart. Most of the family fled westward when they saw the settlers, to empty tents about 50–100 meters away, while Salem, Suliman, and several of their adult sons remained.
An altercation broke out between the settlers and the men who stayed behind. Several other community residents arrived to help the attacked families. The settlers tried to steal a donkey and get to the sheep pens, and residents threw stones at them in an attempt to drive them away. The settlers assaulted 47-year-old Salem Najadah, beating him with an iron rod. They also smashed the windows of a car, slashed the tires of a tractor, and caused further damage.
The settlers called for reinforcements, and within minutes, four or five more settlers arrived, followed shortly by soldiers, who fired in the air, chased the residents, arrested Salem and Suliman Najadah and briefly detained their neighbor Tareq Hmeid and his nephew, who had come to help the brothers.
Some of the sheep killed by the settlers. From footage courtesy of residents
While the soldiers chased the family members who were still in the compounds, drove them out and took the Najadah brothers the community of Khirbet al-Maleh on the other side of the road, the settlers opened the gates of the Najadah brothers’ sheep pens, located about 20 meters from the homes, and stole some 350 sheep, leading them northward. Soldiers prevented solidarity activists who were present at the scene from stopping the theft. The residents, afraid to pursue the armed settlers for fear of being shot, called the Israel Police, which ignored their reports. The incident lasted several hours, during which the residents did not know where their flocks had been taken.
Only about two hours later, after Israeli activists contacted the police at the residents’ request, an officer called them back and directed them to file a theft complaint at the Binyamin police station.
The military released the Najadah brothers around 1:00 A.M., after holding them without cause for about three hours, handcuffed and blindfolded. Upon his release, Salem Najadah was taken to a clinic in the town of ‘Ein al-Beida, where he was treated for the injuries caused by the settlers.
The soldiers prevented the residents from crossing the road to search for their sheep for several hours. Only around 4:30 A.M. did several residents manage to head north and locate some of the sheep about 2.5 kilometers from the compounds. The settlers had beaten and stabbed them with knives, killing 77 and wounding 80. Fifteen of the wounded sheep later died of their injuries. Only about 170 of the 350 animals taken were eventually found alive and well, some after days of searching. Several ewes miscarried due to the trauma. The remaining animals were never found.
The Najadah brothers moved to the Hamamat al-Maleh area from Ras ‘Ein al-‘Auja in the southern Jordan Valley. On 5 April 2025, settlers burned down the empty structures they left behind in Ras ‘Ein al-‘Auja. Following the current attack, Salem and Suliman Najadah left the area and returned with their families, numbering a total of 23 people, including 12 minors, to the al-‘Auja area.
The neighboring Hmeid family, numbering 10 people, including five minors, moved to the area after being forced out of their home in the community of Khirbet Samrah in October 2023. After this attack, brothers Tareq and ‘Ali Hmeid also left Hamamat al-Maleh and relocated to the al-‘Auja area. All the other families living in the area, in the communities of Khirbet al-Maleh, ‘Ein al-Meyteh, and al-Burj, moved their flocks out of the area, at least temporarily. Some left their communities entirely.