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 Saturday, 4 October 2025, at around 7:00 A.M., farmers from the village of Madama went to their land in the al-Khallah area, which lies south of the village in Area B.
At around 10:40 A.M., the Yitzhar settlement security guard, known to residents as Yaakov, arrived at the site on an ATV, armed with a rifle and a handgun. Yaakov drove to the area where the Nassar family was harvesting olives and ran over their harvesting tarps and food with the ATV. He then got off, grabbed two family members and threatened them in Arabic, saying they were not allowed to harvest there. When the mother, ‘A.N., 43, approached him, Yaakov let go of the others and hit her on the shoulder.
He then threatened the family at gunpoint, saying he would shoot them from a distance next time. The family gathered their belongings and returned to the village.
About ten minutes later, Yaakov arrived at the site where Ja‘far Qat, 19, and his friend A.A. were working, on land owned by a village resident, and ran over their electric olive picker with his ATV. He then dismounted, ordered them not to harvest on village lands, and immediately started beating them all over their bodies, including their faces. He shouted in Arabic that he would shoot them next time and cocked his weapon, pointing it at them.
The two took their damaged olive picker and returned to the village, leaving the tarps behind. As they were leaving, they saw Yaakov scattering the olives they had managed to pick on the ground.
The young men, both of whom were bleeding from the mouth and bruised in several places, went to the village clinic for treatment. One, who had a dislocated jaw and two broken teeth, also needed a dentist and was examined in Rafidya Hospital in Nablus because of bruising caused by the blows.
B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’i collected testimonies from some of the residents on 8 October 2025.
Basel Nassar, 46, a father of five from Madama, said:
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Basel Nassar. Photo: Salma a-Deb’i, B’Tselem
On Saturday, 4 October 2025, at around 7:00 A.M., I went with my wife, ‘A.N., 43, and four of our children to our plot of land in the southeastern part of the village, in an area called al-Khallah. We have 11 dunams (1 dunam = 0.1 hectares) of land there, with about 150 olive trees planted by my great-grandfather that are more than 130 years old.
We spread out the tarps and started harvesting olives. I also brought a tractor with me. We were about 10 meters from the house my brother Saleh, 42, is building there. The area was classified as Area B under the Oslo Accords.
At around 10:40 A.M., as we were getting ready for breakfast, Yaakov, the security guard from the settlement of Yitzhar, suddenly drove up on an ATV. He had an M16 rifle and a handgun. Yaakov drove over the tarps and the food we’d laid out, stopped the ATV and got off. He told us in Arabic: “Yalla, go away, no one is allowed to be here.” He speaks Arabic well.
My son asked him why he was shouting and why we should leave when we were on our own land. Yaakov grabbed him by the neck and squeezed hard. At that moment, my other son climbed down from a nearby tree and Yaakov grabbed him by his shirt. My wife asked, “What are you doing?”, and he let go of the boys and hit my wife on the shoulder while shouting: “Go away!” He pointed his rifle at my wife and the boys.
I was a few meters away from them, trying to hide an electric olive shaker and an expensive battery from him. Yaakov stole five of our tarps, loaded them onto the ATV, and said, “You have five minutes to get into the house,” pointing at my brother Saleh’s house. I asked why there, and he said, “The olives go there!” and pointed toward the house. We gathered what we could and went inside.
He kept driving around the area, taunting us, but I didn’t want the situation to escalate because I knew he wanted us to react so he could shoot us.
The kids went into my brother’s house, and I tried to gather our equipment. Yaakov said to me: “Watch out. Next time I’ll shoot from a distance.” We went to harvest the olive trees in my brother’s yard, but there are only six trees there.
Ja'far Qat, 19, from Madama recounted:
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Ja‘far Qat. Photo: Salma a-Deb’i, B’Tselem
At around 10:50 A.M., while we were picking olives in a grove that belongs to someone from the village , the security guard from the settlement of Yitzhar suddenly arrived. People here know him as Yaakov. He’s a fair-skinned man with a thick red beard who often wanders around the village, chases residents and attacks them. He was driving a dark-colored ATV and carrying an M16 rifle and had a handgun in his belt. He got very close to us, about 40 meters away, and we couldn’t escape.
We looked at each other, and A.A. told me to sit down. We sat under the tree we were harvesting. Yaakov stopped near us, ran over my electric olive shaker, and got off the ATV. He slapped me hard on the left cheek, kicked A.A. in the face and shouted, “What’s this?” while pointing at the olives lying on the tarps, as if he’d caught us committing a crime.
Then he assaulted us again. He went back and forth between us, hitting and kicking us. I tried to protect my head and face with my hands. We didn’t say a word because we were afraid he’d shoot us if we spoke. He shouted, “Get out of here! If you come back, I’ll shoot you!” He drew his weapon and cocked it to make clear this was his final threat.
I took the olive shaker that was crushed under the wheels of his ATV, and we ran away. The whole incident lasted only about five minutes, but I couldn’t speak. My mouth was bleeding, and A.A.’s mouth was bleeding too because he has a dental bridge and the blows injured his gums.
We left behind four tarps, the olive shaker, A.A.’s battery and all the olives we'd picked. As we were leaving, I saw Yaakov scattering the olives among the rocks so we wouldn’t be able to collect them again.
A few hours later, the landowner came to collect the equipment but found nothing. Everything had been stolen. I went to the village dentist, who found I had a dislocated jaw joint and two broken lower teeth that needed treatment. Then I went to Rafidya Hospital in Nablus, where they examined me, found bruises on my leg and back, and gave me painkillers. To this day, I have pain in my jaw and can’t speak or eat normally. Every word and every bite hurts.
We haven’t gone back to that land since, because we’re afraid.
