Since October 2023, settlers near Ma'ale Hever have terrorized Bani Naeim, near Hebron/Al-Khalil, setting fire to livestock feed, blocking roads, and invading homes. Armed settlers frequently harass residents, preventing them from grazing their land and forcing them to leave.

This systematic campaign, led by settlers like Matan, blurs the line between settlers and soldiers, as both participate in intimidation and violence. Residents live in daily fear, enduring relentless attacks designed to push them out of their village.

Testimony of Younis Tirawi

The lives of the Palestinians in Bani Naeim have became an ongoing nightmare since the establishment of a new terror outpost near Ma'ale Hever.

• Back in Octobre 2023, settlers settled, deliberately, only 50 meters from the houses. The tents in the front are the homes of the village. The caravan on the hill in the back is one of the buildings of the terror outpost

• On Oct 21st, one of the first things the settlers did after establishing the new outpost is to set ablaze the hay used to feed the sheep. They know the biggest expense for shepherd communities is animal feed, and if they inflict this financial blow, herding would become uncostly & the Palestinians would sell their flocks and leave.

Afterwards, armed settlers with M16 rifles denied the villagers to graze on their own lands.

• A few times a week sometimes every day : Over time, they escalated, with armed settlers frequently invading between and even inside homes of the village, terrorizing locals and children. Anyone who tries to stop them is labeled a terrorist and risks being shot. You are also an anti-semite if you say that you oppose this.

It’s a deliberate systematic terror plan to force the Palestinians out of the village, a daily nightmare.

• On April 20, 2024,an attack and harassment by settlers that took place when they entered the village’s homes.

• One of the arch-settlers who leads such terrorist attacks is a settler named Matan. He used to close the road for the village with his children. To decide who passes through & who doesnt, to demand searching the car or seeing an ID. They like to play as if they're army to pass the time, as if the lives of the people in Bani Naim are some kind of a game.

• In an interview, a resident, Ibrahim, gave this answer for the question: are these settlers or soldiers? Ibrahim answers very clearly: no difference. A settlers would change his uniform and then go down to the village beating them or destroy properties