On Monday, illegal Israeli paramilitary colonizers launched an assault on Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank’s southern part, injuring an elderly man.
Local activist Osama Makhamra stated that colonizers from the illegal outpost of “Mitzpe Yair” released their livestock onto Palestinian farmland planted with seasonal crops and fruit-bearing trees between Khirbet Eqweiqis and the village of Shuab al-Batem.
Makhamra added that when residents attempted to defend their land, the colonizers violently attacked them, beating elderly Palestinian Ribhi Najjar, causing cuts and bruises.
Human Rights Defenders stated that the colonizers also fired live ammunition at Palestinians, though no injuries were reported. Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces detained several residents for over half an hour instead of removing the assailants.
Masafer Yatta has been subjected to repeated assaults by Israeli colonizers and occupation forces in ongoing attempts to forcibly displace Palestinian residents and seize their agricultural and grazing lands.
In related news, Israeli soldiers abducted a young man, Mo’taz Skafi, after invading and ransacking his home in Hebron city.
On Sunday, a group of illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers invaded Beitillu village, northwest of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and Masafer Yatta, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, attacking several Palestinians.
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”.
