Illegal Israeli paramilitary colonizers stole approximately 80 sheep at dawn on Sunday from the village of Kafr Malik, east of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, during an armed incursion into the community’s eastern outskirts.
The incident is part of a documented escalation in colonizer violence targeting Palestinian shepherds and rural communities across the occupied territory.
Local activist Jihad Al‑Qaaq stated that a group of armed colonizers invaded the eastern area of the village and seized an entire flock belonging to Palestinian shepherd Mustafa Al‑Darbani.
He noted that Al‑Darbani has been repeatedly targeted, including a previous assault in which colonizers beat him and stole part of his flock while he was grazing several months ago.
According to the Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission, Israeli occupation forces and illegal colonizers carried out 1,819 attacks across the West Bank during the month of March.
Of these, Israeli soldiers committed 1,322 violations, while colonizers carried out 497, reflecting a sustained pattern of coordinated and escalating violations.
The Commission reported that the highest concentration of attacks occurred in the Hebron district, which recorded 321 incidents, followed by Nablus with 315, Ramallah and Al‑Bireh with 292, and Jerusalem with 203.
The data indicates systematic targeting of Palestinian communities, agricultural areas, and livestock, particularly in regions adjacent to expanding colonial outposts.
Residents of Kafr Malek and surrounding villages have reported a sharp increase in colonizer incursions, livestock theft, and armed intimidation, often carried out under the protection of Israeli occupation forces.
Shepherds in particular have faced repeated attacks aimed at restricting their access to grazing lands and facilitating the expansion of nearby illegal colonial sites.
On Saturday, Israeli colonizers carried out a series of attacks across the occupied West Bank on Saturday, injuring two Palestinian women and expanding their presence on privately owned Palestinian and religious endowment lands, while Israeli forces invaded several communities to provide protection for the attackers.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
