In recent years — and especially since 7 October 2023 — there has been a sharp increase in both the number and severity of settler attacks against Palestinians. The incidents reported on this blog do not reflect all incidents of settler violence in the West Bank, but only those that B’Tselem was able to document and investigate.
On Thursday, 17 April 2025, at around 6:00 P.M., four armed settlers including the security coordinator of the Avigayil settlement arrived at the edge of a plot belonging to Sa’id al-'Amur (Raba’), known as Sheikh Sa’id, 59, from Khirbet a-Rakeez in Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills, and began erecting poles nearby and running eruv lines through his land. When Raba’ noticed them, he set out of his home with three of his children to try to drive them away. One of the settlers attacked his son Elias (16), who was filming the incident on his phone, and tried to snatch the device from him. Raba’ tried to protect his son, at which point the settlers attacked him and the security coordinator fired two shots into the air. When Raba’ managed to break loose, the settler shot him at point-blank range, seriously wounding his leg., and fired two shots into the air. When Raba’ managed to break loose, the settler shot him at point-blank range, seriously wounding his leg.
Soldiers arrived at the scene, treated the father, arrested him, and took him in an Israeli ambulance to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, where he underwent two surgeries. In the second surgery, the physicians amputated his leg above the knee.
Image
Sheikh Sa’id and his son Elias after the shooting. Photo courtesy of the family
On the morning after the amputation, 19 April 2025, police officers arrived at the hospital and questioned Raba’ on suspicion of assaulting soldiers. In a military court hearing the following day, Raba’ and his son Elias were ordered released on bail. Elias had been arrested immediately after the incident and taken to the police station in Kiryat Arba, where he was questioned on suspicion of attempting to snatch a weapon. From there, he was taken to Ofer Prison.
On the day after the hearing, after bail of 5,000 NIS (~ USD 1,480) was posted for each of the two, Raba’ was taken from the hospital by members of the Nahshon prison transport unit, with his hands tied, to the Meitar Checkpoint, where he was released. A Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance transported him from the checkpoint to al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron. His son was also released that day.
Sa’id al-'Amur (Raba’), 59, a father of 12 from Khirbet a-Rakeez in Masafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills, spoke about the incident in a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 22 April 2025:
Image
Sheikh Sa’id in hospital in Hebron after his leg was amputated. Photo: Manal al-Ja’bari, B’Tselem
I live with my family in the community of a-Rakeez. I have 12 children, and 11 of them, who are between the ages of five and 23, live with me.
After 7 October 2023, a settler outpost was established about three kilometers away from our house, on Palestinian lands.
I have a three-dunam olive grove (1 dunam = 1,000 sq. meters) in the a-Rakeez area. Before the outpost was established, my family and I worked the land and harvested the olives without any problems. But the situation changed when settlers started wandering around my land, grazing their flock and attacking my family members whenever they came across them there. All this happened in front of soldiers and police officers, who escort them and keep watch while they graze.
On Thursday, 17 April 2025, at around 6:00 P.M., I saw a vehicle with Israeli license plates pulling over on the main road. Four armed settlers got out, one of the security coordinator of the Avigayil settlement whom we recognize because he often provokes residents. I saw them lay out an electric cable and connect it to a portable generator. They started laying cables across my land.
I went out of the house and quickly headed there. My son Elias, 16, followed me and tried to record what was happening on his mobile phone. When we reached the settlers, I shouted at them to get off my land. Then, one of the settlers grabbed Elias by the neck and tried to take his phone. I went closer to try and get the settler away from Elias , and then the settlers continued to attack us and the security coordinator fired two shots in the air. I managed to break loose, and then he fired another shot that hit my right leg just below the knee, at point-blank range. Earlier, my two daughters, ‘Aishah, 21, and Asia, Elias’s twin, had arrived, and Asia documented what was happening on her phone.
I collapsed to the ground, bleeding heavily. I lifted my leg to try to stop the bleeding, and meanwhile, soldiers arrived. My vision started to blur, and I felt disoriented and gradually lost consciousness. I heard my daughters’ screaming, and the settlers and foreign activists speaking in English, but I couldn’t make out what was happening around me, and then I blacked out.
When I came to, I found myself in the hospital. I was told by the doctors that I was at Soroka Hospital, and they asked me to sign a consent form for surgery. It was late at night. I don’t know exactly what time. I only fully woke up on Sunday morning, and then the doctors told me they had amputated my right leg, 10 centimeters above the knee, because they couldn’t stop the bleeding.
That morning, at around 7:00 A.M., Nahshon Unit (prison transport unit) officers from the Israel Prison Service handcuffed me without showing any mercy or compassion and put me in a wheelchair. They loaded me onto a “posta” (a prisoner transport bus) and made me sit on the metal seat of the bus, in a position that was very painful for me. My injured leg hurt terribly, and I suffered from the intense heat inside the vehicle, which had no windows.
The posta took me to the Meitar Crossing, where I was transferred to a Palestinian ambulance that drove me to al-Ahli Hospital. I’m still in the hospital. They gave me initial treatment and ran tests and scans. They gave me painkillers and antibiotics.
Later, I found out that Elias was also arrested, and that both of us were released after posting bail in the sum of 10,000 NIS (~ USD 2,970).
Elias Sa’id al-'Amur (Raba’), 16, Sa’id’s son, recounted:
On Thursday, 17 April 2025, around 6:00 P.M., while I was watering vegetables near the house, I heard some noise and my father saying a few words in Hebrew. I stopped watering and went toward him. I saw three settlers, two of them armed with M-16 rifles, and a vehicle with a trailer that stopped near our house. A cable was running from it into our land.
My father and I went over to the settlers. We saw that they had an electric drill, which they were using to drill into the ground to install metal poles. My father protested their presence and asked them to leave our land. He went up to one of them, whom I know, and the settler started pushing him. Just then, another settler came from behind, grabbed me, threw me onto the ground, and choked me with his arm while pressing his leg against my back.
I heard two shots and then the settler let go of my neck. I saw the settler I know aiming his M-16 rifle at my father and shooting him in the leg. I heard my father scream in pain. Then, that settler opened his phone, went up to my father, and started filming him. He spoke to him in Hebrew. I didn’t understand the words. My father said to him: “You killed me.” Then the settler turned the camera on me and came closer. He kicked sand at me and said a few more words to me in Hebrew that I didn’t understand.
At that point, soldiers arrived. They tied a tourniquet around my father’s thigh. One of them asked the settler to get away from me, and they told me to help my father. I held my father’s hand. A Red Crescent volunteer came and tried to stop the bleeding. Then an Israeli Magen David Adom ambulance arrived and took my father. A soldier who spoke Arabic ordered me to sit and stay put, and I did.
Afterwards, soldiers took me to a military jeep parked near the road to the outpost. Every settler who passed by said, “That’s it, Sa’id is dead.” The soldiers tied my hands behind my back, blindfolded me, and put me in the jeep. After about half an hour, they took me out of the jeep and handed me over to the police. After about five minutes, a police car took me for interrogation at the Kiryat Arba police station. They put me in a prefab, put iron leg cuffs on me, and I waited there until midnight.
Before the interrogation, I spoke with a lawyer who gave me legal advice. During the interrogation, I was accused of trying to grab a weapon and of my father throwing a stone. I denied all the accusations. After the interrogation, the soldiers took me to a military camp in Susiya, where I stayed until the morning. Then I was transferred to Ofer prison, where I was treated very badly. After three days, I was released after we posted 5,000 NIS (~ USD 1,480) bail.
Asia Sa’id al-'Amur (Raba’), 16, Elias’s twin sister, said:
On Thursday, 17 April 2025, around 6:00 P.M., my five-year-old brother ‘Omar came into the house, frightened. He said our father was running to our land near the house, and that he had probably seen soldiers. ‘Aishah and I ran outside to see what was going on.
When we got to the side of the house, I saw a settler holding my brother Elias, choking him with his arm. My father was speaking with the settlers, telling them it was our land and asking them to stop what they were doing and leave. The voices got louder and they started shouting. I began filming with my phone.
One of the settlers fired two shots in the air. Then he aimed at my father’s leg and fired a third shot, which hit him in the leg. I kept filming. My sister ‘Aishah, my mother, and other family members arrived, but the settlers stopped them from getting near my father.
Later, a military jeep and several settler vehicles arrived. Meanwhile, residents from the village of a-Tuwani arrived, but the soldiers who came, whom we know as settlers, stopped them from approaching us.
Later on, an Israeli ambulance came and took my father away, but we didn’t know where. I saw soldiers taking Elias to a military jeep. The settlers and soldiers stayed until around 8:00 P.M., then left.
We tried to find out what was going on with my father, but we didn’t know anything except that he was at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. On Friday morning, we found out he’d had surgery that lasted several hours, but they were unable to save his leg. The information we received was patchy and limited.
Around 10:00 P.M. at night, we found out my father’s leg had been amputated. The whole family was at home when we heard the news. We started screaming and crying. We were in shock. We hardly slept that night. We fell asleep around 4:00 A.M., exhausted, and slept for only about two hours.
