On 7 May at 17:50, three settlers stormed Khirbet Samra. Two of the settlers were masked, one was armed with a gun, and one carried a large wooden stick. The settlers inititated a confrontation with the family, including teenagers and children, beating them with sticks.
Settlers broke the hand of Ayman Adbul Daragmeh, one of the fathers in Khirbet Samra. Settlers also beat three teenage boys with sticks, one of them was choked and another had his finger broken and cut by a settler. The settlers smashed the phone of one of the teenage boys, and stole the phone of a father. A shepherd’s staff was also stolen. Live ammunition was fired by the settlers into the air and at the family. Five people were injured during the altercation.
The IOF arrived at the scene following calls from the settlers and detained the family. At around 18:00, activists on the scene called the ambulance, which was initially blocked from providing help to the injured by the military. The army detained two men and one teenager for two hours whilst mocking them, before leaving at 19:53 without reprimanding the settlers who had attacked the family.
The attack comes after weeks of threats made by Israeli settler, Ori Cohen, that the family would “face the same fate as Khirbet Humsa (a nearby community that was attacked March 12)”, if they did not leave their land.
Last week, Israeli settlers posted a video on TikTok, showing the paving of an illegal road on the hill of the families’ land where they established an outpost. The video calls for Israeli settlers to storm the village.
Two of the settlers responsible for the attack were trespassing in the village of Khirbet Samra for the first time, the other was a known friend of Ori Cohen, a settler responsible for harassing, threatening and trespassing on local Palestinians’ lands.
This illegal and gross escalation of violence follows years of harassment and trespass, which has become daily. Israeli settlers are forcefully and violently attempting to ethnically cleanse the area, whilst subjecting the family to psychological tortue, financial strain and physical violence. The Israeli military, IOF, support settler violence by arresting Palestinians’ on false claims and enforcing baseless grazing restrictions that prohibit Palestinians’ to use their own agricultural land.
Palestinian families like the Daragmeh family continue to resist against the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of the Jordan Valley despite settler violence and restrictions from occupation. The family call for international intervention and presence.