LONDON: Israeli settlers have uprooted 500 trees near Yatta, south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, and vandalized Palestinian properties.

Anti-settlement activist Osama Makhameh confirmed on Tuesday that armed settlers from the illegal settlement of Susya uprooted and destroyed 500 olive, fig, and almond trees belonging to the Rumi family in the Al-Farsh area of Khirbet Wadi Al-Rakhim, south of Yatta.

Makhameh added that settlers had approached the area protected by Israeli soldiers, according to the WAFA News Agency.

Settlers destroyed the fence surrounding Mohammad Rumi’s property, damaged his belongings, smashed the windows of Rasmi Shriteh’s home, and spray-painted racist slogans on the walls of Palestinian houses.

They also cut a fence around Ayed Abu Murir’s land in Wadi Abu Shaban, east of Yatta, and released livestock into crop areas, added WAFA.