LONDON: Israeli forces uprooted several olive trees near the Palestinian town of Deir Istiya in the central West Bank province of Salfit on Sunday.
Ibrahim Hamad, head of the Agricultural Directorate in the Salfit Governorate, told news agency WAFA that the Israeli forces uprooted around 135 olive trees, each over 7 years old, belonging to three Palestinian farmers.
He added that the attack is part of an ongoing series of violations against agricultural land in the Qana Valley area.
Since May, Israeli forces and settlers have carried out a total of 2,350 attacks against Palestinians, their crops, and their properties, according to a report issued by the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission in October.
The Israeli army was responsible for 1,584 attacks, while settlers carried out 766, mainly in the occupied West Bank’s Ramallah and Al-Bireh (542 incidents), Nablus (412), and Hebron (401), according to the report. These attacks involved physical assaults, uprooting trees, burning fields, blocking olive pickers, seizing properties, and demolishing homes and agricultural structures.
Thousands of Palestinian families who depend on harvesting olive trees for their livelihoods have faced increasing attacks since late 2023 from settlers, entry restrictions to their fields imposed by soldiers, and land confiscations.
Last week, Israeli forces issued two military orders to uproot olive trees and confiscate land for a security fence in the eastern part of the Palestinian city of Qalqilya, located in the northern West Bank.
