Palestinians, Activists ‘Hunted’ in Brutal Settler Attack in West Bank – Report
The attack occurred as Palestinians were dismantling the last homes in the village, after residents had all been forced out by settlers, “in an aggressive campaign that lasted less than a week.”
Ten survivors of a violent attack by illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have recounted being “hunted” by a mob armed with pistols, rifles and batons, the Guardian reported.
They were assaulted so badly in the attack in the village of Mughayyir al-Deir, east of Ramallah, that all 10 had to be taken to the hospital for their injuries, the report said.
Activestills photographer @MoharAvishay ’s images appear in The Guardian after he was attacked and brutally beaten by settlers on Saturday while documenting the violent expulsion of the community Mughayer al Deir, east of Ramallah, in the West Bank. pic.twitter.com/6owhCACq1h
— Activestills (@activestills) May 28, 2025
The survivors included “a 14-year-old Palestinian boy, eight other Palestinians and an Israeli activist, who had three cameras, his phone, car keys and wallet stolen.”
The attack occurred as Palestinians were dismantling the last homes in the village, after residents had all been forced out by settlers, “in an aggressive campaign that lasted less than a week.”
Among the attackers were a group of settlers who had effectively set up an illegal outpost inside the village, “barely” 100 meters from a Palestinian home.
Settler Impunity, State Tolerance
The Guardian said that rights groups warned that this unprecedented action signaled both settler impunity and official state tolerance for the increase in open and violent land seizures.
“I went to document the residents fleeing the village,” Avishay Mohar, a photographer who works for Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem, told the Guardian. “Throughout the day, settlers that now live in an outpost located dozens of metres from the village started wandering around provoking the residents.”
On 18 May, settlers built an outpost just 300m from Palestinian homes in #MughayyiralDeir. Within days, 25 families fled after repeated attacks and threats.
This is forcible transfer.
This is illegal.
Stop settler violence.
Protect civilians.
Demand accountability.#WestBank pic.twitter.com/spVMzoh52R— Norwegian Refugee Council (@NRC_Norway) May 28, 2025
Mohar managed to hide memory cards with visual evidence of the early stages of the attack, just moments before he was beaten and robbed.
He explained that when the attack began on Saturday, activists contacted the police and the army, who then managed to disperse the settlers, persuading them to retreat to their outpost.
A glimpse into Palestinian women’s lives under Israeli settler colonial regime oppression.
Crime scene: Al Mughayer north of Ramallah. pic.twitter.com/gBJ188814a— Halima Khan (@khanhalima18) May 17, 2025
Armed with Rifles, Batons
However, once the soldiers left, the settler mob resumed their assault on the villagers.
They climbed onto the roof of a livestock shed being dismantled and attempted to push Palestinians off. “At that point, the Palestinians tried to defend themselves and the settlers started hitting them,” Mohar says.
“They started throwing stones on both sides. Meanwhile, the settlers started making phone calls. I heard them calling other settlers, telling them that the stones were being thrown at them and to come there quickly,” he continued.
Extremist jewish settlers continue their aggression against the village of Al Mughaeir in the occupied West Bank! pic.twitter.com/StVzXKMYja
— Motasem A Dalloul (@AbujomaaGaza) May 27, 2025
Moments later, dozens more settlers, some masked, arrived aboard trucks and ATVs, many armed with batons; some had firearms and rifles.
Mohar said that at that point, the situation “escalated” with one of the Palestinians getting hit “by a rock in his face”, who started bleeding.
BREAKING: Activestills photographer Avishay Mohar was attacked and brutally beaten by settlers who terrorized residents of the community Mughayer al Deir, east of Ramallah, in the West Bank. Photo: Avishay , 2 days ago , documenting a settler in the community) 1/4 pic.twitter.com/P8m49WS3gc
— Activestills (@activestills) May 24, 2025
“Then I saw a settler that also was hit by something. I didn’t know what it was, but he fell on the ground. He had a gun on his belt. Another settler immediately took the gun off his belt and started shooting. It was a pistol,” he reportedly stated.
Drone Used ‘to Chase Us’
The Palestinians fled along with the activists to a nearby valley “while settlers continued to fire shots and hurl stones,” the report noted.
A settler “used a drone to chase us. They beat my son Omar on the head, he was left more than half an hour bleeding on the scene,” Mlehat, the father of the 14-year-old said.
Watch| Israeli Settlers go on a rampage in the Mughayyir al-Deir community, between Ramallah and Jericho.#Israel pic.twitter.com/JKDRp260pz
— Al-Jarmaq News (@Aljarmaqnetnews) May 21, 2025
Mohar said the settlers “did not shoot in the air,” adding that “One had a pistol and two were shooting with M16s or other long rifles.”
“I was hit by a rock. On the way, two settlers caught me and hit me and stole everything from me. I had three cameras, one video camera. They stole everything and also my backpack. They searched my pants and took my wallet and car keys,” the photographer stated.
He explained that they were eventually surrounded and “had nowhere to go.”
The settlers were still shooting and ordered them to come over to them.
Mohar said the settlers took all their phones, and “smashed it with rocks,” before both “masked and unmasked settlers” began hitting them with batons and rocks.
“They kicked us while we lay on the ground. I got hit by batons on my head, on my eyes, on my back,” he added.
Assaulted with Batons, Kicked
He stated that he was sure “they were going to kill me because they kept hitting me with batons and kicking me.”
“But then I heard one of the settlers telling his friends – because I’m Jewish and not Palestinian – ‘don’t kill him, hit him in the balls’. Then they tried to spread my legs and hit me, but I managed to flip on my belly,” Mohar continued.
Palestinian farmers forced zionist settlers out if their farms, but Israeli occupation forces arrived, deterred the Palestinian farmers, escorted settlers and enabled them to set fire on the wheat fields in the village of Al Mughaier , northeast of the occupied West Bank city of… pic.twitter.com/cfuskovZCu
— Motasem A Dalloul (@AbujomaaGaza) May 27, 2025
Ten Palestinians were injured, some with multiple fractures.
“This is all part of a project of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank,” Mohar was quoted as saying.
“It’s not done by crazy settlers. It’s a state project. The state is informed of everything. If there was a will to stop those attacks, it would have happened in a minute,” he added.
25 Homes ‘Lost’
Mlehat said the villagers “lost 25 houses,” adding that the “whole community were displaced.
“Those settlers are terrorists. They pursue ethnic cleansing against us. They don’t care if you are a child or a grown-up, they do not discriminate between a man or a woman. All of us are a legitimate target for them. What can we do?” he asked.
Israel Escalates Home Demolitions across West Bank – Over 150 Destroyed in April
Last week, the UK imposed sanctions on two settlers involved in the campaign to drive the Palestinians from the village.
The Guardian said that for many of the Palestinian families forced out of their homes, “it was a second displacement at the hands of Israelis.” Their parents and grandparents had been forced from land near the city of Beersheba (renamed Be’er Sheva) in 1948.
On Tuesday, illegal settlers severely beat a photojournalist in Al-Mughayyir. The settlers assaulted Issam al-Rimawi, who works for the Anadolu news agency, while he was covering the clashes that erupted in the town.
Anadolu’s photojournalist assaulted by Israeli settlers in occupied West Bank
Issam al-Rimawi was hit on his head with a stick by the Israeli settlers as he was covering settler assaults in Al-Mughayyir village, east of Ramallah in the central West Bank… pic.twitter.com/XApH35pNjf
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) May 27, 2025
Settlers had attacked the outskirts of Al-Mughayyir village and attempted to burn agricultural lands and wheat crops in the Marj Sa’i plain, before residents confronted them and forced them to flee.
(PC, The Guardian)
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