Yabrud, Ramallah District: Israeli settlers stole a flock of sheep from a livestock enclosure in the village, soldiers fired live rounds and tear gas at Palestinian residents who tried to stop the theft

On Tuesday evening, 17 February 2026, reports of settlers’ presence near homes in the village of Yabrud spread on village social media groups, and residents began to gather on the village’s northern outskirts to prevent the settlers from raiding the village.

About five minutes later, military forces arrived at the area and began dispersing the residents by firing tear gas canisters and hurling stun grenades. The villagers found themselves trapped between the military, which had arrived from the south, and the settlers to the north, and some of them threw stones at the military vehicles and the settlers in order to drive them away.

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Meanwhile, A.D., a resident of the village, noticed settlers who had broken into his livestock enclosure and stolen his flock. A.D. reported the theft on the village social media group and began chasing after the settlers, who fired several shots in his direction without hitting him. Shortly afterwards, about 50 village residents joined him, and together they chased the settlers and the flock until they reached a distance of several hundred meters from an outpost named The Meguri Family Farm, which was established nearby in late 2024.

At that point, the residents came across many settler vehicles that shone their headlights on them, blinding them. The settlers got out of their vehicles and threw stones at them, and the residents were forced to retreat towards the village. Some of the settlers drove the flock towards the outpost, and others chased the residents as far as the village homes. In the village itself, military forces were waiting for them and attacked them with tear-gas canisters and stun grenades. The soldiers remained in the area until around 1:00 A.M.

A.D., the flock owner’s son, recounted the following in a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Mohammad Romaneh:

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On Tuesday evening, 17 February 2026, during Ramadan, when most village residents were in the mosques for the tarawih prayers [held only during Ramadan after the evening prayer], reports began spreading in the village that several settlers arrived at the northern area of the village, where about 700 meters away, settlers set up a shepherding outpost in late 2024 on land belonging to the nearby town of Silwad.

Residents began moving towards the northern area to confront the settlers and prevent them from going around residents’ homes. I went home and climbed onto the roof with my wife to watch what was happening from there. At that point, the situation was relatively calm, and there were only village residents gathered there, but after less than five minutes, occupation army vehicles came from the direction of Silwad and started firing tear gas to disperse the villagers and drive them away from the area where the settlers were.

There was some stone-throwing by some of the residents towards the army vehicles, and not much happened beyond that. After about half an hour, I came down from the roof into the house to make coffee. I went back up to the roof a few minutes later and continued to watch what was happening. Then I suddenly heard strange sounds coming from the direction of our livestock enclosure. I tried to look over there, but it was dark and impossible to see anything, but the strange sounds continued.

I went down from the roof, went over to the enclosure and found the male goat outside. When I looked inside, I saw that the flock was not there, and then I also heard people speaking to each other in Hebrew. I immediately sent a message on the village residents’ group that our flock had been stolen by settlers. I put the goat back in the enclosure and ran to my father’s house to tell him the settlers had stolen the sheep and were now leaving the area. Then I went out and ran quickly eastwards, in the direction from which I heard the sounds.

About 50 meters from the house, as I was running, I felt someone running behind me and thought it was village residents who had joined me. I kept running until it turned out that the person running behind me was a settler, who shouted loudly in not very good Arabic and ordered me to stop. I stopped where I was. The voice came from nearby, but because it was dark, I couldn’t see him, although it was clear to me that he could see me. He asked if I had stones, and I said I didn’t and that all I wanted was to get my flock back.

At that moment another village resident reached the spot where I was standing, and as soon as he arrived, the settlers started firing live rounds at us. I was scared they would kill us, and we had to retreat, especially since they knew where we were, but we couldn’t see them, only hear their voices. My father and brothers soon came, along with several other residents from the village, and we all started running north towards the outpost, even though we couldn’t see the stolen flock.

We advanced about 500 meters north when suddenly, many settler vehicles appeared, shining their headlights at us, blinding us. The settlers got out of the vehicles, shouted loudly and started throwing stones at us. We were forced to retreat and run back towards the village, with the settlers chasing us right up to the houses.

After that, the occupation army invaded the village again, fired tear gas and threw stun grenades among the residents’ homes, instead of chasing the settlers who fired live rounds at us and stole the flock. The settlers went back to their outpost, and the army stayed in the village until 1:00 A.M.

Now I intend to file a complaint at the occupation police station, in coordination with the village council, even though we already know it’ll probably do no good, especially given the experience of families from other villages and towns who filed complaints and received no response. In the end, the flock is my father’s main source of income.