Israel settlers attack Palestinian farmers in southern Hebron

Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in the Masafer Yatta area in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron, on Monday, Ma’an News reports.

Coordinator of the National and Popular Committee in southern Hebron, Rateb al-Jbour, reported that a group of Israeli settlers assaulted unarmed Palestinian farmers which caused a fight between the settlers and farmers.

The assaulted Palestinian farmers were left with bruises across their bodies.Al-Jbour added that Israeli settlers were escorted by armed Israeli forces.Israeli settlers reportedly places signs on Palestinian lands indicating their intention of expanding nearby illegal settlements.

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Around 3,000 Israeli settlers live in illegal Jewish-only settlements in the Yatta region, according to the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem.

The South Hebron Hills, known locally as Masafer Yatta, lie almost entirely in Area C, the 62 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and security control since the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Masafer Yatta residents were expelled at the time of the establishment of a firing zone in the 1970s and were eventually allowed back following a long court battle, but are under the constant threat of being expelled or seeing their homes demolished.