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.
Jifna, Ramallah District: Settlers and soldiers stole scores of sheep and two donkeys from a village resident and from a livestock trader who was held up at the ‘Ein Siniya checkpoint. Soldiers detained a man and beat him for hours
A settler leading the flock of sheep out of Zuheir Sh’ar’s farm. Photo courtesy of local residents
On Wednesday, 15 April 2026, at around 6:30 P.M., while Zuheir Sh’ar, 53, a resident of Jifna, was grazing his flock on village land west of the village, between Jifna and nearby Bir Zeit, about 10 settlers arrived, armed with clubs, and began approaching him while shouting. Sh’ar called his relatives for help, and they arrived at the scene within several minutes.
A confrontation broke out between the settlers and the Palestinians, which included mutual stone-throwing, and during it about four soldiers also arrived at the scene. During the confrontation, Sh’ar managed to bring the flock back to his sheep pen in the village. Relatives and other residents who had heard what happened arrived later.
Meanwhile, the settlers and soldiers gathered nearby, and at around 7:00 P.M., they jointly entered the village and reached Sh’ar’s farm. Immediately upon arrival, the soldiers began firing in the air and throwing stun grenades at the residents who were there, then broke into the farm, handcuffed Sh’ar and his nephew Ahmad Sh’ar, 34, with zip-ties, and detained them and three other young men.
The soldiers tore the security cameras’ recording device out of its place and then invited the settlers to enter the sheep pen. While Zuheir and his relative were handcuffed at the scene, the soldiers provided security for the settlers as they stole 170 sheep and goats from the pen.
The soldiers then took Ahmad Sh’ar to a nearby military post, where they beat him for a long time, punching him, hitting him with rifles and chairs, and kicking him. The soldiers released him only at around 3:30 A.M. that night, ordering him to walk away from the base without looking back, with his hands still bound behind his back.
After he had gone some distance, Ahmad asked a passerby to remove his zip-ties and call his family. They arrived and took him to a clinic in Birzeit and then to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, where he was kept for five days. After the soldiers let him go, he discovered that the 400 ILS (~ 133 USD) he had in his pocket had been stolen.
While the joint raid in the village was taking place, soldiers held up two livestock traders, A.A. and his brother M.A., as they passed through the nearby ‘Ein Siniya checkpoint. The soldiers ordered the brothers to get out of their truck and sit on the ground next to the checkpoint. A few minutes later, settlers arrived in a car, shook hands with the soldiers, checked the livestock in the truck’s bed, and then drove off toward Route 465.
After that, M.A., another livestock trader, passed through, and the soldiers held him up as well. His four-year-old son and a friend were also with him in the truck.
The soldiers ordered M.A.’s friend to get out of the vehicle, while he and his son were kept in the truck. They then ordered the drivers of both trucks to drive them to a nearby military post, brought the other detainees there, handcuffed everyone except for M.A., who stayed in the vehicle with his son, blindfolded them and took them into the post.
At around 10:00 P.M., while M.A. was still sitting in the truck with his son, three vehicles arrived, and about 15 settlers got out of them. They climbed into A.A.’s truck bed, stole 11 sheep and left.
Shortly after, M.A.’s sister arrived, and the soldiers allowed her to take his young son out of the vehicle, then took M.A. into the post as well.
The four men were held there until 3:30 A.M. that night. While kept at the post, the soldiers subjected them to abuse, which included beatings, cigarettes being put out on their bodies, interrogations and degrading treatment, all while the men were handcuffed.
All the detainees reported that during their detention, large sums of money were stolen from them.
B’Tselem field researcher Mohammad Romaneh collected testimonies from Ahmad and Zuheir Sh’ar and from two of the men held at the checkpoint:
A.A. related in his testimony:
I live in the village of Burqah, east of Ramallah, and have worked as a livestock trader for five years. My family has been in this business for a long time. On Wednesday, 15 April 2026, I drove with my brother M.A. to the city of Jenin to buy livestock. We bought 62 sheep and left Jenin for Ramallah. At around 6:30 P.M., we reached the ‘Ein Siniya checkpoint.
On the lane leading from ‘Ein Siniya to Ramallah, four soldiers were standing at the checkpoint with their faces uncovered, checking vehicles before letting them through. When we reached them, they told us to stop the vehicle across the road so that it would block the lane leading out of Ramallah, and then to turn off the engine and get out of the vehicle.
The soldiers had us sit on the ground next to the concrete blocks they were standing behind. After a few minutes, a car with a yellow [Israeli] license plate arrived from the direction of ‘Ein Siniya, and four settlers with uncovered faces got out of it. The soldiers shook hands with the settlers and spoke with them, then the settlers climbed into the back of our vehicle and looked at the livestock. After that, they headed toward the road leading to the settlement of Ateret and the city of Rawabi.
Then another truck with livestock arrived. The soldiers stopped it too, told the driver to park behind our truck, took a young guy out of it and left the driver inside, because there was a small child with him, whom I heard crying. I recognized the young driver, because we know each other from the livestock trade business.
After about 40 minutes, the soldiers told me to get up and walk towards the military tower. They told my brother to move the vehicle there. When we reached the tower, the soldiers tied our hands behind our backs, blindfolded us and took us inside. The driver of the second vehicle stayed inside it with the child, and even when they told him to move the vehicle towards the tower, they didn’t take him out of it.
Inside the tower, the soldiers beat us, cursed us and forced us to unlock our phones so they could go through them. They also searched our pockets and took what they found. I had 700 Jordanian dinars (~ 987 USD) in my pocket, and one of the soldiers took them.
From time to time, the soldiers came over to us and tightened the zip ties. One of them stubbed out a cigarette on the zip tie on my wrists and melted it, which gave me a burn on my right hand. The soldier pressed the melted plastic onto my hand. They also forced us to lie on our bellies for varying periods of time.
After about two and a half hours or a bit more, they brought the driver of the other truck into the tower, too, and he said he saw settlers come to the trucks and steal several animals from ours.
After a long time, a soldier came and started shouting at the driver of the second vehicle, asking him about a person whose name or number appeared on his phone. He demanded that he call him and talk him into coming to the checkpoint and turning himself in. The driver called his father and asked him to bring that person.
The soldiers let us go at around 3:30 A.M., and we drove home to Burqah. When we began unloading the livestock, we found that 11 animals had been stolen. The price of each one ranges from 1,500 to 2,300 ILS (~ 500–765 USD). In addition, 3,000 ILS (~ 1,000 USD) were stolen from the truck.
M.A., the driver of the other truck, related in his testimony:
When I stopped near the military tower, the soldiers allowed me to stay in the vehicle with my son but ordered me to ask a relative to come and take him. I called my sister, who lives in Um a-Sharayet in Ramallah, and asked her to come. One soldier stayed by my vehicle for a while, then went up into the tower, while other soldiers walked around the area. It was already 7:30–8:00 P.M. by then.
At around 10:00 P.M., three pickup trucks showed up, and about 15 settlers got out of them. They immediately climbed up to my truck’s bed and the other’s. I saw them jump into the other truck’s bed, grab sheep, pass them to settlers standing on the ground, who loaded them onto their vehicles, and then they left.
The soldiers were there and didn’t try to prevent the theft. On the contrary, they stopped vehicles from driving towards ‘Iyun al-Haramiyah and directed them towards Ateret and Rawabi.
After the settlers left, my sister arrived and took my son out of the vehicle. Immediately after that, the soldiers ordered me to get out of the vehicle, took my phone and ID card and everything I had in my pockets, tied my hands behind my back, blindfolded me and took me into the military tower. That was at around 11:30 P.M.–12:00 A.M. I told the other guys what I saw. They kept us there until 3:30 A.M. on Thursday.
During the arrest, the soldiers beat and humiliated us. They also forced us to unlock our phones and checked every name and number they found, interrogating us about them violently. After we were let go, they returned our phones and ID cards, but not the money they took from our pockets. I had 5,800 ILS (~ 1,930 USD) in my pocket, which weren’t returned to me. They also didn’t return the pack of cigarettes they took.
Ahmad Sh’ar, 34, a father of three, related in his testimony
On Wednesday, 15 April 2026, at around 6:30 P.M., when I was in my car in the village of Bir Zeit, I got a phone call from my cousin, who told me that settlers were trying to steal sheep from my uncle Zuheir, who was grazing part of his flock north of his farm in the village. He asked me to come immediately. I drove to my house, which is near my uncle’s farm, parked and walked to the place where my uncle was, according to the description I got, near an abandoned chicken coop about 300 meters north of our houses and the farm.
When I got there, I saw my uncle Zuheir trying to bring a flock of about 40–45 sheep back to his farm. As I came closer, I saw about ten settlers throwing stones at my uncle’s sons, who were there trying to stand between the settlers and my uncle so he could get the flock back to the pen.
At that moment, I saw four soldiers arrive on foot, with a military vehicle parked behind them near the concrete plant. I heard the soldiers shouting “Ta’al” (“come” in Arabic), but I didn’t stop and started running south towards my house and the farm.
I managed to reach the farm and saw that Zuheir had already brought the sheep inside. In the street in front of the farm, there was a crowd of relatives, friends and village residents who came when they heard about the attempted theft. Five minutes later, or less, a military vehicle drove up from the road connecting Bir Zeit and Jifna. It didn’t stop at all, drove past us and continued north to the concrete plant where the settlers were.
Fifteen minutes, or less, after the military vehicle passed, while we were still in the street in front of the farm, I saw a white pickup truck approaching from the north, with military vehicles behind it. The vehicles stopped about 100 meters north of the farm’s entrance. I saw occupation soldiers running towards the farm entrance while firing in the air, so I rushed into the farm through a side door that faces the street, to avoid contact with them.
I stood behind the door to watch what was happening in the street and saw a bearded settler in civilian clothes coming up to the door and trying to enter. I shut the door firmly and kept him from coming in, and then a soldier came to the same door and started shouting at me. I backed away from the door to avoid a confrontation with him, but he immediately fired three shots in the air and threw a stun grenade into the street outside the door. At the same time, three soldiers entered the farm through the main entrance, two of them masked. They came up to me and immediately knocked me to the ground and beat me severely all over my body with their rifles. They kicked me too. I tried to protect my head and face with my hands, but the soldiers tied my hands behind my back with zip-ties.
Meanwhile, I saw about five or six unarmed settlers with uncovered faces enter the farmyard. The soldiers blindfolded me with a piece of cloth and led me to a military vehicle that was parked in the street close to the farm’s main entrance.
When I was inside the military vehicle, a female soldier came, took off my blindfold and took a photo of my face, then put the blindfold back on. After that, they took me out of the vehicle and led me somewhere, had me sit on my knees, then removed the blindfold, and I found myself in the farmyard. The soldiers started asking me about the farm’s security cameras, and when I told them they weren’t connected to my phone, they beat me. Then they asked my uncle Zuheir to call one of his sons to give them access to the security camera recordings.
Zuheir tried to call his sons, and when none of them answered, a soldier entered the farm and removed the DVR that records the security cameras’ feed.
After that, the soldiers called the settlers, and seven or eight settlers entered the farm again, unarmed and with uncovered faces. I saw them go into my uncle’s sheep pen and take the sheep out. My uncle couldn’t bear to watch. He tried to get up, but the soldiers led him out of the farm. I also tried to get up, but the soldiers blindfolded me again and started beating me again. Seeing the settlers take my uncle’s sheep out of the pen was the hardest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I felt so helpless in the face of this theft.
The soldiers led me out of the farm again and walked me about 200 meters. I could hear the sheep walking ahead of me.
They put me in a military vehicle that drove for about 15 minutes, then transferred me to another military vehicle that drove for a few minutes before stopping. Then they took me out of it, ordered me to kneel, removed the blindfold and took my photo again. I saw that I was at the ‘Atara checkpoint.
Then they blindfolded me again, took my phone, my ID card and the pack of cigarettes I had in my pocket, and forced me to sit behind the concrete blocks at the checkpoint.
They kept me there until 3:30 A.M. that night, Thursday, 16 April 2026. During that time, they beat me every which way and with every object - with their rifles, with chairs, kicking me all over my body. One soldier claimed he was a doctor and helped me get up, saying he wanted to help me, then hit me hard in the stomach three times and knocked me to the ground. Every soldier who passed by me beat me brutally. At one point, several soldiers stood over me and rained blows on me together until I fainted from the pain.
At 3:30 A.M. or a little earlier, two soldiers took off my blindfold, hit me in the face and ordered me to leave without looking back. They didn’t remove the zip-ties and left my hands tied behind my back.
I started walking from the ‘Atara checkpoint towards Bir Zeit. On the way, I came across a man who had parked his car there and asked him to help free my hands and call my father, because my phone battery was dead. He called my father and then told me my brother would meet me on the way. I kept walking until I reached the Tutah roundabout in Bir Zeit, where I met my brother, who took me to the emergency clinic in Bir Zeit, and from there I was taken to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah.
In Ramallah, they examined me and did imaging tests. I had bruises and injuries all over my body. The tests showed that my liver enzymes were elevated, so they kept me. That was on Thursday, and today it’s Saturday, and I’m still in the hospital.
Before I was arrested, I had 400 ILS (~ 133 USD) in my pocket. I didn’t notice them being taken out, but after I was released, I didn’t find them there. They didn’t return the ID card and pack of cigarettes they took from my pocket either.
During my detention, I felt terrible humiliation, but this is the price of living on this land. Every Palestinian who lives on it has to pay the price of holding on to it. Despite all the attacks we suffer every day, we are steadfast and will remain on our land at all costs.
The owner of the farm, Zuheir Sh’ar, 53, a father of three, related in his testimony:
I am married and have three adult sons. We live in an area that was defined in the Oslo Accords as Area B, and on my land next to the house I built a sheep pen of about 200 square meters, where I kept about 170 head of livestock, which were my main source of income. I trade in live sheep and mutton meat and also use the milk, cheese and dairy products for household consumption. I’ve been doing this for more than 25 years.
On Wednesday, 15 April 2026, at around 6:30 P.M., while I was grazing my flock about 200 meters north of the pen, I was surprised by a group of 10-12 settlers who walked over from the direction of the concrete plant west of the village. I estimate that they came from the outpost located on Atara’s land. There’s a wadi between the outpost and the place where I was grazing, and they crossed it under cover of darkness and reached me. The settlers were wearing civilian clothes. Their faces were uncovered, and some of them were carrying sticks.
Image
Settlers gathered near Zuheir Sh’ar’s farm, Jifna. Photo courtesy of local residents
As soon as they saw me, they started shouting loudly. I immediately called my son, told him there were settlers around and asked him to rush over. He arrived in minutes with my nephews. In the meantime, the settlers kept coming closer, and I tried to move the sheep away for fear the settlers would reach them and steal them. Some mutual stone-throwing broke out between the settlers and my son and nephews. I took advantage of this to retreat with the sheep towards the pen. After 10 minutes or more, I reached the pen, and my son and nephews arrived shortly after me. By then, many residents and relatives had gathered around the farm.
I thought the incident was over, but at around 7:00 P.M., I heard shots fired, probably in the air. An occupation army force arrived with about three military vehicles, alongside two civilian vehicles with yellow [Israeli] license plates full of settlers. I saw the vehicles arrive at the entrance to my pen from the direction of the concrete plant.
The occupation soldiers dispersed the locals who had gathered on the street and then broke into my farm and forced me and the others present to sit on the floor. Then they attacked, beating us severely. After the soldiers, the settlers burst inside. The settlers and soldiers walked around the farm for a few minutes, and then the settlers went back out to the street, but the soldiers stayed on the farm. They asked who owned the pen and about the security cameras. I said I was the owner, and then they tied my hands with plastic zip-ties, tied my nephew Ahmad Sh’ar’s hands, too, beat him with their guns and led him outside.
A soldier, who might have been the officer, ordered me to show him where the DVR was. When I did, they cut the wires and took it.
The soldiers brought my nephew, Ahmad, back. I tried to speak with the officer, but he shouted at me to be quiet. After they had fully taken control of the situation and disconnected the DVR, the officer signaled to the settlers to come closer and let them enter the pen again. I saw six or seven settlers with their faces uncovered, some with handguns on their belts, enter the livestock area.
The settlers began taking the flock out. I tried to get up, but the soldiers moved me behind the farm and led my nephew out again.
After the settlers took my sheep out of the pen, they led them north, and the soldiers escorted them up to the street leading to the concrete plant. I saw soldiers walking my nephew Ahmad behind the settlers and the sheep.
Once the military had gone, residents entered the farm and freed me. I went out into the street and saw the settlers loading small lambs from the pen onto off-road vehicles. I went back to check and discovered that they had stolen all the sheep from the pen, 172 sheep, leaving only one. They also stole two donkeys. Most of the sheep were fully grown and worth about 2,000 ILS (~ 665 USD) each. The damage is enormous. This has been my only source of income for 25 years.
Later, I found out they had also stolen an off-road vehicle belonging to a resident of ‘Ein Yabrud that was parked near the farm.
I’m in shock, not just because of the financial loss, but because of how the theft went down, right inside the village, in Area B, with direct protection from the occupation army. In the past, livestock owners whose pens were near the outpost would leave their flocks with me temporarily because my pen is inside the village, relatively far from the settlers. But this shows that there is no safe place. The attacks reach everywhere under the protection of the occupation forces.
