Illegal Israeli settler breaks into Palestinian home with his donkey in occupied West Bank, footage shows

By Awad Rjoob

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Footage showed Sunday an illegal Israeli settler entering a Palestinian home in the Masafer Yatta area of the southern West Bank, accompanied by his donkey, in what activists describe as part of mounting settler intimidation targeting local residents.

The video shows the illegal settler moving through a cluster of makeshift dwellings, tents, metal structures and caves, before walking into one of the homes with his animal.

Osama Makhameh, an activist who documents Israeli violations south of Hebron and shared the footage with journalists, said such incidents are not isolated.

“This happens daily, sometimes several times a day,” he told Anadolu.

According to Makhameh, the illegal settler entered the Khirbet Al-Rakeez community with his donkey and livestock, moving freely between residents’ homes.

The dwelling belongs to Mohammed Al-Najjar, who, Makhameh said, has faced repeated harassment, including illegal settlers releasing their animals near his home and damaging surrounding farmland.

He added that settlers also cut and stole fencing around land owned by a Palestinian resident in the same area.

Makhameh said the pattern of Israeli raids is aimed at pressuring residents to leave the rural hamlets they have inhabited for generations.

He accused Israeli forces of failing to respond to residents’ complaints, saying that in some cases those who report incidents risk being detained if illegal settlers claim they were threatened.

In a separate attack, illegal settlers smashed solar panels in the nearby Khirbet Al-Halawa town and attempted to assault an elderly woman, Makhameh added.

According to the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, a local agency, illegal settlers carried out 468 attacks across the West Bank in January, including physical assaults, uprooting trees, torching farmland and blocking access to agricultural land.

Israel has intensified operations in the occupied West Bank since launching its military campaign in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023.

At least 1,117 Palestinians have been killed and around 11,500 others injured in attacks by the army and illegal settlers in the West Bank during that period.

*Writing by Tarek Chouiref