HEBRON: Israeli colonists tonight attacked Palestinian citizens in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank, according to a local official.

Head of the Masafer Yatta village council, Nidal Yunis, said that colonists dressed in army clothing attacked resident Mahmoud Issa Mohammed while he was herding his sheep, and Malik Maher Mohammed in Khirbet Janba, and led them to an interrogation and detention center after handcuffing and blindfolding them.

He added that the occupation forces forced resident Mohammed Al-Jabareen to tear down the metal roof of his residential structure in the Shaab al-Batam, east of Yatta. This brick-made home was subjected to several attacks by colonists and was demolished numerously.

Colonists also attacked and chased after Palestinian shepherds while they were grazing their sheep in Wadi al-Jawaya and Khallet al-Adra areas, while an armed colonist attacked citizens’ sheep in the Khirbet Touba area.

The official stressed that forces and colonists
have escalated their attacks on citizens and their property in the Masafer Yatta area, including detentions, demolition of homes, and causing damage to projects and water wells to control more lands for the benefit of colonial expansion.

He pointed out that all communities in Masafer Yatta have formed guard committees in light of the escalated colonists’ attacks, which are carried out under the protection of the occupation forces.
Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA