On Tuesday evening, illegal paramilitary colonizers vandalized Palestinian-owned crops in Khirbet al-Mafqara, a hamlet within Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank’s southern part.
Osama Makhamra, a local activist against Israel’s illegal colonialist activities, said the colonizers stormed Khirbet al-Mafqara, wandering through residential areas, grazing their sheep on olive groves owned by two local farmers, Fayez and Shehada Makhamra.
Makhamra added that the colonizers also destroyed crops belonging to Kayed Makhamra after invading his land.
In addition, the colonizers released their livestock near the home of Farid al-Hamamda, causing damage by uprooting saplings and fruit trees.
Such acts of violence by colonizers against Palestinians and their property are a routine occurrence in the occupied West Bank, with Israeli authorities rarely holding perpetrators accountable.
These attacks often include arson targeting property and mosques, stone-throwing, destruction of crops and olive trees, and assaults on vulnerable homes.
Currently, over 700,000 Israeli colonizers reside in illegal colonies across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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 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”.
