Younes Aql.. The story of a Palestinian besieged by an army and iron gates in Wadi Muhaisen, Hebron

In the Wadi Muhaisen area, near the town of Halhul, north of Hebron, Palestinian citizen Younes Aql, known as 'Abu Muhammad,' writes a daily epic of steadfastness against a military arsenal and settlers surrounding his home from all sides. Abu Muhammad finds himself besieged by an entire army and impenetrable iron gates, making leaving or reaching his home an adventure fraught with dangers that threaten his life and the lives of his family.

The suffering of Abu Muhammad's family and three other families living in the community intensified after the occupation tightened its grip on the area by establishing four settlement outposts and six military gates that completely encircled the place. This suffocating siege left no outlet for the Palestinians there to meet their basic needs, forcing Younes to take his wife and children with him in all his movements for fear of settler attacks.

Field sources reported that attacks in Wadi Muhaisen are continuous, with the occupation army and settlers participating in ongoing incursions into the area, including releasing livestock to harass residents and destroy their property. Abu Muhammad recounts how settlers smashed his vehicle's windows and hurled obscene insults, claiming the land belonged to them and that its original owners were 'colonizers,' a stark paradox to reality.

Due to these continuous pressures, Younes Aql was forced to leave his job selling vegetables to dedicate himself to protecting his home, spending most of his time stationed on his land, which does not exceed one and a half dunams. Despite the small size of his private property, his steadfastness represents the first line of defense for more than four thousand dunams belonging to the people of Halhul, which settlers covet.

The military closure catastrophically affected the daily life details of the family. The distance that used to take minutes to reach Halhul turned into an arduous journey extending over ten kilometers. Abu Muhammad is sometimes forced to cover this distance on foot through rugged mountains, due to the prohibition of Palestinian vehicles from crossing the iron gates installed by the army.

The suffering becomes more complex when there is any malfunction in water or electricity networks, as the occupation authorities prevent maintenance crews from reaching the besieged area. Despite these harsh conditions, Abu Muhammad affirms that the option of leaving is not in his dictionary, emphasizing that his connection to the land is an existential one that cannot be compromised or negotiated.

Speaking about the challenges, Abu Muhammad explains that his home is older than the occupation state itself, which reinforces his determination to stay despite the policy of forced displacement. He adds with a challenging tone: 'I was born here and lived here, and if I leave for some time, my heart remains attached to this place I love, and I cannot bear to live away from it.'

Abu Muhammad expressed his strong reproach towards official institutions, demanding a minimum level of support in the form of providing 'barbed wire' to protect his home from settler treachery. He indicated that he approached the Halhul municipality and the Hebron governorate with requests for assistance in strengthening his steadfastness, but the responses were disappointing under the pretext of a lack of available resources.

Younes Aql's story comes in the context of rampant settlement in the West Bank, where official data indicate that about 800,000 settlers now control more than 42% of the West Bank's area. According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, the number of settlement outposts and settlements witnessed a significant jump, reaching 544 settlement sites by the end of 2025.

The occupation's measures were not limited to settlement expansion but also included fragmenting Palestinian geography with 916 checkpoints and military gates, hundreds of which were established after the events of October 2023. This security system directly aims to suffocate isolated Palestinian communities and facilitate settlers' seizure of remaining lands.

Statistics from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics indicate that 2025 was a harsh year for Palestinian land, with more than 5,500 dunams seized under various pretexts. Military orders varied between seizure for security purposes or declaring lands as 'state lands,' which closes the door for their legitimate owners to use them.

In a related context of Israeli violations in the region, journalistic work continues to face grave dangers, as previous reports recorded direct targeting of journalists in southern Lebanon and Palestine. Since 2023, a number of journalists have been martyred, including Issam Abdallah from Reuters, whose investigations confirmed he was directly targeted by an Israeli tank shell.

Younes Aql's steadfastness in Wadi Muhaisen summarizes the story of thousands of Palestinians who face the war machine and settlement with bare chests and solid will. Despite the tight siege and the six gates that close off the horizon of life before him, Abu Muhammad remains committed to his dream of living in peace on his ancestors' land, refusing to break before the policies of fait accompli that the occupation tries to impose.

Either we die here or they remove us by force, for this is my home, which is older than the Israeli occupation.