JERICHO, (PIC)
Israeli settlers caused the death of dozens of Palestinian-owned sheep early this Friday morning by poisoning them in the Arab al-Malihat Bedouin gathering, northwest of Jericho.
Hassan Malihat, the general supervisor of the Baidar organization for defending Bedouin rights, said in media remarks that evidence suggests the poison was placed in the water that the sheep drank, resulting in the death of 50 heads belonging to brothers Suleiman and Muhammad Ali Malihat.
Malihat added that this attack is part of a series of ongoing assaults by settlers targeting Palestinian farmers and their properties, aimed at pressuring and displacing them from their lands.
Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank have intensified, peaking during two phases: the first when the current occupying government came to power, and the second after the onset of the ongoing genocide against Gaza on October 7, 2023, according to the report “Rooting Out Violence by Israeli Settlers” released by the International Crisis Group.
The report noted a significant increase in the violence perpetrated by settlers against Palestinians in recent years.
Hostile actions, often carried out by armed settler youth gangs, range from verbal intimidation and harassment to livestock theft and assaults on Palestinians, where settlers uproot farmers’ olive trees and deny them access to land and water.
