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.
Khallet al-Mafatih, South Hebron Hills: Israeli settlers stole a Palestinian family’s flock with help from police officers and soldiers, and the military forcibly displaced the extended family the next day
Members of the Mahariq family taking down their homes and loading their belongings in preparation for leaving. Photo: Nasser Nawaj’ah, B’Tselem
On Monday, 23 March 2026, at around 5:00 P.M., seven settlers arrived at the extended Mahariq family’s residential compound in Khallet al-Mafatih, where 20 family members have been living for decades.
The settlers, who were leading a flock of sheep, were armed with sticks and clubs, and were soon joined by about ten more settlers. They tried to break into the family’s sheep pen and when Sharifah Mahariq, 66, tried to block their way, one of the settlers hit her arm with a club. She fell to the ground, tearing a tendon in her hand.
At that point, four military vehicles arrived, and the soldiers removed the settlers from the pen. Then, two police cars also arrived, and after the settlers told the officers that the sheep in the family’s pen had been stolen from them, the officers escorted them into the pen and let them steal about 50 sheep and lead them toward an outpost established in 2025, about 500 meters south of the family’s place of residence.
About 30 local residents gathered at the scene, and the soldiers began dispersing them by firing tear-gas canisters, throwing stun grenades and even using live fire, which did not hit anyone. The soldiers also arrested Sharifah’s son, Sa’ed Mahariq, 44, his son Muhammad Mahariq, 19, and another young man who lives in the area.
Muhammad Mahariq and the other young man were released that same evening at around 9:00 P.M., while Sa’ed was taken to the Kiryat Arba police station the next morning, where he was interrogated for allegedly stealing the sheep from the settlers, assaulting them and throwing stones at them. He was released at noon that day after bail of 1,000 ILS (~ 355 USD) was posted for him.
That same morning, Tuesday, 24 March 2026, soldiers arrived at the family’s residence and informed the family members and threatened to arrest them all if they did not leave the site immediately. With no choice, the extended Mahariq family, comprising three households and 20 people, including eight minors, had to dismantle their homes, pack their belongings and move to rented accommodation in the nearby village of Khirbet a-Simiya.
B’Tselem field researchers Nasser Nawaj’ah and Manal al-Ja’bari collected testimonies from two members of the family the day after the incident:
Sa’ed Mahariq, 44, father of six:
I live in the Khallet al-Mafatih area near the town of a-Samu’, south of the city of Hebron, together with my father Muhammad, 72, my mother Sharifah, 66, my wife Amneh, 39, pregnant, and my children Muhammad, 19, Ahmad, 13, Musa, 5, ‘Issa, 4, and Sidra, four months old. I work raising and herding sheep and cattle, and this is our main source of income. We had 170 sheep, until about 60 of them were stolen by the settlers.
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Sa’ed’s father, Muhammad Mahariq. Photo: Manal al-Ja’bari, B’Tselem
We have 55 dunam (1 dunam = 0.1 hectares) here, which we inherited from our fathers and grandfathers, and for the last 20 years, we’ve been living on this land. The settlement of Shim’a was established about two kilometers from our home, and two days ago, a new outpost was set up near our house.
Yesterday, 23 March 2026, at around 4:00 P.M., when my brother Mustafa, 24, and I returned home with the flock from pasture, and before we managed to bring the sheep into the pen, seven settlers, coming from the direction of the outpost, leading a flock of sheep and carrying sticks and sharp tools, came into my yard. Afterwards, about 10 more settlers arrived on ATVs and in two or three pickup trucks.
When we asked them to get out of the yard, they claimed we stole their sheep and refused to leave without them. We told them they were lying and trying to steal our sheep. They tried to mix their sheep with ours, but we managed to drive their flock away and bring ours into the pen.
The settlers tried to break into the pen, and my mother tried to stop them, and then one of them hit her arm with a club. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground. At that moment, three Israeli military jeeps arrived, and the soldiers removed the settlers from the door of the pen and prevented them from entering.
Afterwards, two Israeli police patrol cars also came, and the officers allowed the settlers to enter the pen and choose sheep as they wished, small and large. They seized more than 50 sheep. When I tried to resist, the soldiers tied my hands and blindfolded me. They did the same to my son Muhammad and another guy from a neighboring family who tried to help.
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Members of the Mahariq family taking down their homes and loading their belongings in preparation for leaving. Photo: Nasser Nawaj’ah, B’Tselem
At the same time, dozens of our relatives arrived, and the soldiers fired tear gas and live rounds at them and ordered them to go inside the house together with the women and children. The settlers led the sheep toward the outpost, and the soldiers took Mus’ab and me in a military jeep to the settlement of Otniel, where they had us sit on the ground outside, in the base’s yard, in the bitter cold, and kept us like that with our hands tied and our eyes covered until 9:00 P.M., and then they let Mus’ab go.
I was detained until 10:00 A.M., when they took me to the police station in Kiryat Arba, and there, after about half an hour, an interrogator who spoke Hebrew questioned me in the presence of an Arabic interpreter. They accused me of assaulting settlers, throwing stones at them and stealing sheep. I denied all the allegations and said that it was the settlers who attacked us and stole our sheep under the protection of the police and the soldiers.
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Members of the Mahariq family taking down their homes and loading their belongings in preparation for leaving. Photo: Nasser Nawaj’ah, B’Tselem
After about half an hour, they decided to release me on bail of 1,000 ILS (~ 335 USD). I contacted my family, who posted the money, and I was released at around noon. I left the police station tired, exhausted and heartbroken over the theft of my flock and over the fact that I had to pay money for no reason, only because I tried to protect my home and prevent the theft of my property.
When I got home, I was hit by another shock when I saw my family packing our belongings and getting ready to leave, even taking down our house. My father told me that the Israeli military came that morning, ordered them to vacate the area immediately and threatened to arrest them if they stayed.
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Members of the Mahariq family taking down their homes and loading their belongings in preparation for leaving. Photo: Nasser Nawaj’ah, B’Tselem
