On March 11, 2025, at least six Israeli settlers violently attacked two Palestinian shepherds in Khirbet Hammamat al-Maleh al-Meetah in the northern Jordan Valley.
The brothers, Ghanem Eid Zawahra and Muhammad Eid Zawahra, were shepherding on Palestinian land when a black settler vehicle approached them. Settlers exited the vehicle and beat the shepherds with iron rods.
Two Israeli army vehicles arrived on the scene following the attack, not to provide aid, but to block Palestinian ambulances from reaching the wounded shepherds. Eventually, the ambulances were able to collect them.
The Zawahra brothers were taken to a hospital in Tubas, where they were treated for severe injuries. Both men had lacerations and bruises all over their bodies, especially on their heads. One brother’s hand was broken.
Photos: the Zawahra brothers receive hospital treatment for their injuries
Pattern of Escalating Settler Harassment, Intimidation, and Physical Attacks
Israeli settler violence against Palestinian communities continues to escalate in the West Bank. Under the auspices of the occupation forces, settlers commit crimes against Palestinians every day: they steal and kill livestock, prevent grazing, confiscate lands, and physically attack Palestinian families. Often, settlers commit these crimes while dressed convincingly in military attire; other times, they are escorted and guarded by active military personnel.
All of this is done with the intention of terrorizing Palestinian communities until they feel they can no longer live on their own land. Once Palestinian families are uprooted, Israeli settlers quickly sweep in to seize their lands.
Strategic Advantages of The Jordan Valley
It is not a coincidence that Israeli settlers are rarely held accountable for their crimes against Palestinians. Rather, their continued intimidation of Palestinian communities and theft of Palestinian land are a direct enactment of the Israeli government’s stated intention to annex the West Bank. This apartheid system has an ultimate goal of displacement.
The Jordan Valley, which comprises the easternmost 30% of the West Bank, is of special strategic value to Israel. Due to the water supply of the Jordan River, the Valley is extremely fertile land that provides a rich environment for farming and shepherding. In turn, this means economic opportunities for those able to cultivate the land. Israel was making plans to annex the Jordan Valley as far back as 2019, despite the damage such an annexation would inflict upon the land and people. Settler attacks like this one intend to pressure Palestinian residents to leave their homes in the Jordan to make room for Israel’s colonial mission.
Left: the region of Jordan Valley land that Netanyahu proposed annexing in 2019; Source: BBC 11 September 2019. Right: Israeli settlements and military zones in Jordan Valley, compiled by Heather Elaydi
On the 2nd of March in the Jordan Valley, the Israeli military demolished a supermarket. located on Highway 90. The owners of the supermarket were the Abo-Jarar family. This area consisted of a playground, a small restaurant, bathroom, indoor sitting area and a prayer room. In 2022, Israeli authorities gave a stop-work order for reasons which are still unknown.
The family hired a lawyer and got a notice to appeal this decision until 27 July 2025. Nevertheless, the military came on the 2nd of March 2025 and destroyed the building and surroundings. The family had still 5 months left and were taken by surprise.
The day of demolition On Sunday, March 2nd, the military came without warning and demolished the supermarket. The owners were only able to save less than 10% of the goods, not taking into account the furniture, equipment, and other things from the supermarket that were demolished as seen on the videos.
The supermarket relevance The supermarket and other facilities were essential for the local community, providing goods and services without the need to travel to distant cities. They also served as a source of employment for many people from the area. The supermarket had around 15 employees, some of them employed for over 7 years. The restaurant helped provide income for around 30 families.
How the occupation prevents economic growth in the West Bank The demolition of the Abo-Jarar family’s supermarket is an example of how the occupation impedes economic growth and stability in the West Bank. By enforcing stop-work orders and carrying out demolitions without adequate warning or justification, the occupation disrupts local businesses, displaces workers, and undermines the livelihoods of families dependent on these enterprises.
The occupation’s policies and practices, including restrictions on movement, access to resources, and land use, further exacerbate these challenges. By limiting the ability of Palestinians to build and sustain businesses, the occupation not only undermines economic growth but also deepens the socio-economic disparities between communities in the West Bank and neighbouring areas.
Palestinians fear the continuation of the Israeli operation in the northern West Bank; Israeli plans are underway.
More than a month since the Israeli military started its “Operation Iron Wall” in the northern West Bank including the Jenin, Tulkarem, Nur Shams Camps (21 January; two days after the Gaza “ceasefire” took effect), Israel has killed at least 60 Palestinians, arrested around 365 displaced over 40,000, and destroyed scores of homes and properties in the occupied West Bank.
Photo: Nur Shams Camp in the past week
On Sunday, Israel deployed tanks in the West Bank for the first time in more than 20 years. Now, Defense Minister Israel Katz has said, the army will remain in some refugee camps “for the next year” to ensure that residents cannot return.
Forced Displacement
Among Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from camps in the northern West Bank, under the threat of weapon fire, many came out and took nothing, and some of them made the wrenching decision to demolish their homes in the camps.
Photo: Displaced people take their belongings away before the demolition
The displaced Palestinians stated that they would return to the camp, and if their homes were lost or demolished, they would rebuild their homes, even if it was necessary to put up a tent and live in that. Palestinians in the camps are aware of Israel’s grand plans to eliminate refugee camps in the West Bank, specifically in the northern bank. Israel claims that these camps are primarily a factory of the Palestinian resistance, but in fact, Israel’s forces have killed dozens of civilians from camps in the northern West Bank. Unarmed Palestinian civilians who did nothing. Their only fault is that they grew up in the camp; they are Palestinians.
Psychological Violence and Show of Force
In a scene that has been absent for more than two decades since the end of the so-called second Palestinian intifada in 2005, Israeli tanks penetrated the city of Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank in the neighborhood of “Jabriyat”, which overlooks the empty refugee camp after the Israeli army blew up residential blocks. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee their homes in what is the largest displacement since the 1967 war.
Photo: Demolition of houses in Nur Shams Camp
Israel announced last Sunday that it had expelled tens of thousands of Palestinians from the Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps, and Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said that he had instructed Israeli forces to prepare for a long stay of up to a year in the evacuated camps, adding that “there is no return for those who lived there”.
Photo: A sick and elderly woman who was displaced
Imposing the Status Quo Militarily, Not by Negotiation
The Palestinian Authority says that one of the most dangerous of the goals of the Israeli military operation is the displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, which occurs simultaneously with the bulldozing and construction of roads in large areas of the central bank; this process has already occurred with the Netzarim site, which had been established by various Palestinian geographic and military groups in the central Gaza Strip.
The question remains, whether Israel will succeed in implementing its military plans in the West Bank in general, and in the West Bank camps in particular.
Will the Palestinians survive despite all the challenges imposed by Israel?
Photo: A Palestinian man checks his house while standing amidst the rubble
March 8, 2025, Masafer Yatta – Alex Chabbott (44), a California based US citizen and solidarity activist, was arrested yesterday from Khalet Al-Daba’, in Masafer Yatta, the southern part of the occupied West Bank, and is now under imminent threat of deportation. Masafer Yatta is the setting of Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land”, yet despite this global recognition, Israeli authorities continue their efforts to ethnically cleanse its indigenous population and expel whoever stands in solidarity with them.
Palestinian taken away from Israeli soldier on March 8, Khalet Al-Daba’. Credit local Palestinians.
On the morning of March 8, Israeli settlers arrived with guns and started harassing residents of Khalet Al-Daba’, roaming through the village, invading houses and severely beating Palestinians with clubs. Israeli soldiers and police came to aid the settlers, continuing to abuse the Palestinians. After being attacked, three Palestinians and international activists present were arrested and taken to Kiryat Arba police station.
Alex was questioned on trumped-up suspicions of obstructing a civil servant in a previous incident, which he denies, as well as entering a military firing zone the day of the arrest. Israeli authorities detained him as soon as he arrived in the village, only later explaining it is a closed area. While the others detained together with Alex were released, with one Palestinian requiring medical care at the hospital, the police decided to extend Alex’s arrest. However, due to the lack of any real evidence, Israeli authorities decided not to pursue criminal charges and used the perfectly legal small fruit knife he had in his backpack from earlier in the day as an excuse to single him out for deportation. This is not the first time Israeli authorities use baseless suspicions to arrest and deport solidarity activists.
Over the last few weeks, the village of Khalet Al-Daba’ has been terrorized by occupation forces that rolled in with a convoy of bulldozers and military vehicles, expelled families into the early morning cold and destroyed homes and infrastructure. On February 10, Israeli forces demolished 7 houses, 3 caves and a water cistern. Two weeks later, on February 26, bulldozers returned to Khalet Al-Daba’ to destroy six tents put up as temporary homes to replace the destroyed houses. Some of the families’ homes have been destroyed up to five times in recent years.
In the 1980s, Israeli authorities designated a part of Masafer Yatta as ‘Firing Zone 918’, a close military zone. Since this declaration, residents have been at continuous risk of forced eviction, house demolitions, and forcible transfer. Since October 7, Palestinians have faced escalating settler violence, aided and supported by the Israeli army and police, aiming at accelerating the ethnic cleansing of the area. In the last months, and years, villages have seen weekly demolitions and daily settlers attack towards residents, property and basic infrastructure.
Last July, around 200 settlers launched a coordinated attack in which they destroyed vehicles, burned fruit trees and beat up residents in Khalet Al-Daba’ and Mufagarah. In the past year and half, at least 19 Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank have been forcefully displaced and wiped off the map by Israeli settlers, with the support of the Israeli occupation forces.
Alex was witnessing yet another of these attacks on Khalet Al-Daba’ when Israeli forces arrested him and Palestinian residents. For over two decades, he has been a deeply entrenched activist and community organizer, dedicating himself in struggles to protect the environment and defend land against resource extraction, to show up for indigenous solidarity efforts, to support mutual aid efforts and community resilience, disaster relief, the anti war movement, fights for racial justice, and many more. He has been an active advocate and supporter of Palestine since the early 2000’s when he first learned what was going on. He has worked in land defense and stewardship, and grows a vast garden of food, flowers, and medicinal herbs mostly to give away and share with others. He especially loves to tend to his fruit trees.
“Growing up I learned about the Jewish Holocaust and it was mind boggling that honest people stood by as it happened. Today, Israel is perpetuating a genocide in Gaza, and I don’t want to look back and regret not standing up for what’s right. No one is free when others are oppressed,” Alex wrote.
This all happens under the watch of western countries, as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal and must be dismantled, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for the current Israeli prime minister and the previous Israeli defence minister for war crimes. It is to be expected that in the context of the criminal enterprise of the colonisation of Palestine, indigenous Palestinians on their land and human rights defenders who support them, are criminalised.
Palestinians everywhere are facing a genocide and while those in Gaza have endured constant bombardment, West Bank camps are being destroyed in the biggest escalation since the second intifada and communities are facing relentless raids. In this climate, notorious Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvir created a special task force to get rid of activists in the West Bank. According to Ben Gvir, the task force was created as a response to some states, including the U.S., sanctioning violent settlers, because international activists were reporting settler violence that they witnessed to their governments. This effort aims to isolate Palestinians from international solidarity, and is part of the ongoing barrage of harassment by Israeli settlers and soldiers towards Palestinians and of human rights activists in the area.
Contact info: palreports@gmail.com
Khalet Al-Daba’ before the homes where demolished. Credit ISM
February 10, home demolition in Khalet Al-Daba’. Credit to local Palestinians.
The rubble left after the home demolitions. Credit to @palestinebrigade on IG.
Israel is carrying out massive military operations to displace residents of camps in the northern West Bank, unprecedented since the Second Intifada. Since the seventh of October, Israeli attacks on West Bank cities, especially in the north, have not stopped. We are talking about the cities of Jenin, Tulkarm, Tubas, Nablus and Qalqilya.
Destruction of Palestinian refugee camps At the end of January, Israel carried out a large scale military operation in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, which has lasted for ten days so far.
Its military operations are based in the Jenin refugee camp, in various city areas, and in some nearby villages. The Jenin camp has become an unfit place for human habitation, dozens of Palestinian houses have been destroyed and bombed, and the neighborhoods and streets of the camp have already been destroyed. Water, electricity pipes and infrastructure have been destroyed.
A residential block and an entire neighbourhood have been completely destroyed due to aerial bombardment.
Did you succeed in transforming the Jenin camp like Jabalia camp in Gaza? This is what senior Israeli officials promised before the start of the recent military operation in the West Bank, especially in the Northern West Bank. The Israeli occupation continues its aggression on Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas, murdering 29 martyrs, dozens of injuries, arrests, demolition of houses and forced displacement. Amid widespread destruction of property and infrastructure.
Entrance to Tulkarem
JENIN Jenin, for the fifteenth day in a row, the occupation continues its aggression against the Jenin city and its camp, which has so far resulted in 25 martyrs, dozens of injuries, arrests, and the demolition of dozens of houses, amid a large displacement process that affected 15 thousand citizens.
Yesterday morning, the occupation army forced residents of the buildings supervising the Jenin camp to evacuate, as several military vehicles were stationed near the buildings demanding evacuation.
Street in Jenin
Residential buildings and apartments are being emptied, forcibly displacing citizens.
The occupation forces in the Jenin camp simultaneously blew up about 20 buildings in the eastern side of the camp, after booby trapping them, which caused damage to some sections of the Jenin government hospital, without injuries being recorded. The occupation continues to push reinforcements to the city of Jenin camp from the Jalama military checkpoint, while its
bulldozers continue to destroy houses in the merge lane, with approximately 15 thousand people now displaced from the Jenin camp the target neighborhood, distributed throughout 39 local community bodies in the Jenin governorate and its towns.
Transfer of an injured person in Tulkarem
TULKAREM For the ninth day in a row, the occupation continues its aggression against the city of Tulkarm and its camp, resulting in the martyrdom of four citizens, amidst extremely difficult humanitarian conditions.
The occupation forces are still pushing more of their vehicles into the city and its camp from the “tasnouz” military camp west of Tulkarm, and deploying infantry patrols in large numbers in the streets, neighborhoods, and the center of the vegetable market, combing and searching between houses and alleys and harassing citizens.
These forces also continue to besiege the martyr Thabit Thabit government and specialized hospitals, obstruct the work of ambulances and their medical crews, and subject them to inspection and field investigation, while they have taken military barracks and places for snipers from the buildings surrounding them.
The occupation forces escalated their violations against citizens in the city and its camp through a series of attacks, which included raiding houses, forcing their owners to flee, vandalizing and
stealing their contents, blowing up and destroying a number of them, in addition to restricting movement, while seizing commercial and residential buildings and turning them into military barracks and places for snipers.
In Tulkarem camp, the occupation forces continue to deploy large numbers of infantry soldiers in all its neighborhoods and alleys, raid houses, force residents to leave them, seize high buildings and turn them into sniper platforms and shoot at Citizens, which led to the injury of a citizen (40 years), shot by an occupation soldiers sniper stationed inside one of these buildings.
House of the martyr Tamer Fugha
Tulkarem camp is living amid this unprecedented continuous escalation, amid difficult humanitarian conditions, after the occupation bulldozers completely and partially destroyed houses and shops, blowing up a number of them and burning others, coinciding with the destruction of infrastructure, which led to the interruption of water, electricity, communications and the internet, making it difficult for specialized crews from the municipality, and others, to repair them because the occupation prevented them from entering the camp. The situation of citizens who are still in their homes ~ the elderly, the sick, women and children has also been aggravated by the acute shortage of food, medical, drinking water, and infant formula.
TUBAS For the third day in a row, the occupation is besieging AL- FARA’ camp and the town of Tamoun south of Tubas, amid arrests, bulldozing of infrastructure and forcing citizens to flee.
Since the beginning of the storming, Israeli Occupation Forces forces have bulldozed the roads and infrastructure leading to the AL-FARA’ camp, in addition to closing all entrances to it with earthen berms and raiding houses in the vicinity of the camp, forcing its residents to be displaced, and turning them into military barracks.
Israeli Occupation Forces also raided the homes of citizens on the outskirts of the town of Tamun, forcibly displacing residents, giving them orders not to return within ten days.
Water pipelines have been destroyed between the Town of Tamun and the village of Atouf, in addition to closing of the road connecting the two areas with earthen berms.
The occupation continues to push military reinforcements to Tamun and the AL-FARA’ camp, while the Israeli reconnaissance aircraft continues to fly intensively in the skies of the governorate.
Military reconnaissance aircraft
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health : the percentage of Palestinian martyrs in the West Bank since the beginning of
this year 2025 has reached 70 martyrs.
38 martyrs in Jenin 15 martyrs in Tubas 5 martyrs in Tulkarem 3 martyrs in Hebron 2 martyrs in Bethlehem 6 martyrs in Nablus 1 martyr in Jerusalem 10 of them are children, 2 of them are women, 2 of them are elderly people.
