A Palestinian shepherd was found dead near an Israeli settlement located near the city of Nablus, in northern West Bank on Monday morning.
Palestinian sources reported that Mohamed Bani Jaber, 54, from the village of Aqraba south of Nablus was found dead near the barbed wire fence of the Itamar illegal Israeli settlement built on the village land.
Jaber's family stated that he went missing on Sunday afternoon; Palestinian security sources stated that the man was choked to death and stabbed with a knife several times. The Israeli army rushed to the scene and surrounded the area, they did not allow family members of the victim to take the body or examine it.
The army is still holding the body at the scene and is not moving it to a hospital. Jader is a father of five and he worked as a shepherd, local sources reported. The Palestinian villages in the northern part of the West Bank, especially the ones close to illegal Israeli settlements, are often attacked by right wing settler groups. Shepherds and their huts are targeted regularly by the settlers, the Israeli army are often at the scene of these attacks and sometimes join in with the settlers, eyewitnesses reported.
