On the morning of 17 October 2021, brothers Ahmad (25) and ‘Abd al-‘Aziz (19) Abu ‘Awwad were fencing off a plot belonging to a village resident, which lies east of the village. At around 9:00 A.M., three groups of settlers passed by in vehicles and ATVs, one after the other. The first group surveilled the brothers and left. The second group swore at the brothers and went on their way. When the third group arrived, with two civilian jeeps and an ATV, a settler got out of one of the jeeps and began yelling at the brothers and trying to drive them out of the plot. The two were frightened and went back to their car, but after the settler left the area, resumed work on the fence.
About half an hour later, two masked settlers arrived with two large dogs from the direction of the shepherding farm established about two years ago on the outskirts of the ‘Adei Ad and Amihai outposts, a few hundred meters from the plot. The settlers went over to the brothers and ordered them to leave, and one sprayed them in the face with pepper spray. The settlers then fled the scene, and the brothers drove to a clinic in the village to receive first aid.
In a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Iyad Hadad on 18 October 2021, Ahmad Abu ‘Awwad recounted the attack:
When we saw two masked settlers coming down to us from the direction of the shepherding outpost with two giant dogs, we stayed put to see what they wanted. As soon as they reached us, one of them started talking to us in Hebrew. I told him I didn’t understand and handed him my phone to type what he wanted, so we could translate it through Google. He wrote, “Does the military you’re here?” I answered no. He wrote, “Get out of here before the settlers come and hurt you.” I told him, “We’ll finish working in half an hour and leave.” He replied, “No, five minutes and you’re out.”
Suddenly, he pulled a pepper spray canister out from under his shirt and sprayed me in the face from point-blank range. The gas got into my eyes, nose and mouth, and I choked. I started shouting. I felt short of breath and my eyes were full of tears. My face was burning in a way that’s hard to describe. The settler also sprayed my brother ‘Abd, who was next to me. It hurt so much, I ran away screaming. I ran about 100 meters and didn’t know where to go. My brother ‘Abd pulled himself together, got into our car and drove towards me. I got in and we drove off. I didn’t see what the settlers did, but ‘Abd told me they ran off right after the attack.