HEBRON: Israeli colonists today attacked lands belonging to Palestinian residents in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, and others organized a provocative march at a colonial outpost established in the area.

Head of the Masafer Yatta Council, Nidal Younis, said that a group of colonists from the illegal colony of Karmiel extended an irrigation network and began planting olive trees on about 50 dunums of residents’ land in the Sadda al-Tha’la area in Masafer Yatta.

He added, “Israeli occupation forces prevented local residents and farmers from accessing their lands in that area after October 7 under security pretexts, while they allowed the colonists to work on those lands, cultivate them, and establish irrigation infrastructure in preparation for seizing them for the purposes of colonial expansion.”

In a related context, dozens of armed colonists organized a provocative march in the vicinity of the colonial outpost established nearly a year ago on residends’ lands in the Umm Al-Hayman area in Masafer Yatta.

Younis pointed out that “what is happening in Umm al-Hayman represents the reality of the occupation’s policy of using security and military pretexts to restrict local residents’ ability to defend their lands, thus facilitating the colonists’ control and seizure of them.”

He said that the occupation authorities informed local residents that this area is classified as a firing zone, where presence and construction are prohibited.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA