Late Wednesday night, illegal Israeli paramilitary colonizers attacked Palestinian homes in the village of Susiya, east of Yatta in the Hebron governorate in the southern occupied West Bank, hurling stones at houses and damaging exterior property.
Local media activist Osama Makhamra of Masafer Yatta identified the homes as belonging to Khader Nawaj’a and Ahmad Jabr Nawaj’a and said the attacks damaged water pipes and perimeter fencing. No injuries were reported.
Makhamra said the colonizers deliberately provoked families by approaching houses and throwing stones, then withdrawing while occupation forces observed.
He added that the assault shattered water infrastructure and tore through fencing that villagers rely on for domestic use and to protect small plots used for subsistence agriculture, further endangering already fragile water supplies.
Residents and human rights monitors described the incident as part of a pattern of escalating violence by paramilitary colonizers in the Southern Hebron Hills, citing repeated stone‑throwing, destruction of property, cutting of water lines, and attacks on olive groves.
Villagers say these episodes, combined with strict building restrictions and military measures, amount to a sustained effort to push Palestinian families off their lands.
The damage to the two homes carries consequences beyond immediate repair costs. In a community where water access is intermittent and livelihoods depend on small‑scale agriculture, damage to pipelines and fences increases the risk of crop loss, forces additional expenditures on repairs, and amplifies pressure on families already managing limited resources.
Humanitarian observers point to Masafer Yatta as a focal point of broader policies that enable settlement expansion while constraining Palestinian life and development.
The cumulative effect of harassment, legal restrictions, and violent incursions create persistent insecurity that undermines community resilience and raises serious humanitarian and legal concerns.
The assault in Susiya is the latest in a series of incidents that residents say are designed to intimidate and displace—an everyday reality for many Palestinian families, a reality that has cumulative strategic and human consequences.
Since October 7, 2023, colonizers have carried out more than 7,155 documented attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, resulting in the killing of 33 civilians.
The Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission reported that these attacks—often carried out with Israeli military backing—have led to the uprooting, burning, and destruction of at least 48,728 trees, including 37,237 olive trees.
The olive harvest, a cornerstone of Palestinian livelihood and cultural heritage, has become a battleground where colonizers seek to erase Palestinian presence through violence and intimidation.
Despite international condemnation, colonizer attacks continue with impunity, deepening the suffering of Palestinian farmers and threatening the survival of entire communities under occupation.
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.
