Illegal Israeli settlers seize sheep from Palestinian families in southern West Bank

By Aysar Alais

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Armed illegal Israeli settlers seized a large number of sheep belonging to Palestinians in the southern occupied West Bank on Thursday.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing unnamed local sources, reported that a group of armed settlers attacked Palestinian homes in the community of Haribat an-Nabi in the Masafer Yatta area with protection from the Israeli military.

Masafer Yatta is a cluster of 19 Palestinian villages in Hebron district of the southern West Bank.

According to the agency, the illegal settlers stole many sheep from two Palestinian men, Ali Sabah and Abdul Muhsin Rashid, after detaining their families, searching their homes and barns and wreaking havoc.

Palestinians say Israeli authorities are lenient with attacking illegal settlers as part of official efforts to intensify settlement activities in the occupied territories.

According to Israeli estimates, more than 720,000 settlers live in illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law.

Tension has been running high across the occupied West Bank amid a deadly Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip which has killed nearly 41,300 people, mostly women and children, since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

At least 710 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 5,700 others injured by Israeli forces in the West Bank since Oct. 7, according to the Health Ministry.

The escalation follows a landmark opinion by the International Court of Justice in July that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land "illegal" and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.