Settlers loot Eid sacrifices in Hebron under the protection of occupation forces

Palestinian citizen Musa Al-Adra, a resident of the 'Rujum A'li' area in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, was subjected to a brutal assault by groups of settlers who stormed his home and sheep pen under the cover of darkness. The attackers cut the barbed wire fence surrounding the pen, causing the flock to scatter, while the occupation forces provided the necessary cover for the settlers to carry out their crime without any intervention to stop them.

Al-Adra woke up to the commotion of the sheep and rushed to try and save his only source of livelihood, but he faced an organized and armed gang that abused him and severely beat him. Faced with the large number of attackers, the citizen had no choice but to shout for help from his children and neighbors in the village, who rushed to assist under extremely dangerous security conditions.

During the attempt to confront the settlers, Musa's brother intercepted the attackers with his private vehicle. They responded by stabbing him with a knife and smashing the front windshield of his car before fleeing, taking a large part of the flock with them. Local sources reported that the settlers deliberately inflicted as much physical and material harm as possible on the family to intimidate them and prevent them from defending their property.

After arduous search operations, Al-Adra found only 20 sheep out of more than 200 he owned, with the rest stolen and taken to a nearby Israeli settlement. Among the missing were about 70 lambs that Al-Adra had cared for throughout the year to be used as sacrifices for the blessed Eid al-Adha, incurring heavy financial losses that the family cannot compensate.

In a familiar pattern of procrastination, the Israeli police and army refused to cooperate with the victim despite his immediate call to them at the moment of the attack. Instead, they added to his suffering by detaining him for hours inside the police station in the 'Kiryat Arba' settlement. The occupation authorities initially refused to officially receive his report, a behavior that confirms the clear complicity between the security system and the settlers in the West Bank.

Al-Adra expressed his genuine fears for the lives of his children, noting that he was forced to leave the sheep and return home quickly for fear that the settlers would throw incendiary 'Molotov' cocktails at his house and burn his family. This attack comes less than three weeks after settlers uprooted 50 olive trees from his land, indicating a systematic targeting of his presence in the area.

Human rights data indicates that these attacks fall within an Israeli strategy aimed at weakening the Palestinian economy in areas classified as 'C' to push residents towards forced displacement. These attacks vary between burning crops, demolishing structures, seizing pastures, and killing or stealing livestock, turning the lives of Palestinian farmers into a daily nightmare.

According to data issued by the human rights organization 'Al-Baydar', the phenomenon of livestock theft has seen a dangerous escalation, with settlers stealing more than 12,000 head of livestock since the beginning of 2025 until today. These figures, compared to 1,500 head stolen in 2024, confirm an unprecedented escalation in the economic war waged by settlers against Palestinian pastoral communities.

These attacks are not random; they are organized and politically systematic, aimed at weakening our economy and terrorizing us into displacement, but we will remain steadfast on our land.