FLASH
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Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, there has been an increase in attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians, says a report by the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs. As VOA Israel correspondent Yan Boechat reports, in the southern parts of the West Bank, dozens of villages have been destroyed, farmers have been forced off their lands and over a thousand people have been displaced.
A pile of destroyed articles, personal belongings and furniture has been created in the Hebron hills, which were previously used by two Palestinian families who lived in the El-Mfaggara community until two weeks ago. According to the residents of this area, an armed group of Israeli settlers came one day with trucks and bulldozers and destroyed everything.
"Columns in military uniforms came here, launched an attack and destroyed everything. We have never seen such actions by soldiers. Before, we received a warning letter, but this time the settlers came here without warning in military uniforms and destroyed everything," says Mahmoud Hammandeh, leader of the El-Mfaggara community.
Mr. Hammandeh says his family has lived for centuries in this area in the hills of Hebron, engaged in livestock and agriculture. He says the settlers are getting closer and closer. With the war between Israel and Hamas, Mr. Hammandeh says the situation seems to have gotten out of control, with threats and violence.
"I feel humiliated and offended by this severe treatment. This was not caused by the Jews because they are good people, I lived with them. The attack was carried out by the Zionists, who come from different parts of the world and are without religion and without ethics," he says.
According to the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs, at least 15 villages have been destroyed and more than a thousand people displaced since Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.
Israel's government press relations office and Israeli army officials declined to comment on the increasing number of attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian farmers. In recent weeks, the Israeli government began distributing thousands of weapons to civilians and settlers living in border areas with the Gaza Strip and settlements in the West Bank.
"We are going to all the areas to distribute weapons. They can save lives. Every rifle, pistol, that we license can save a family. They can save a residential building. I call on the citizens of Israel to arm themselves," says Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's Minister of National Security.
Residents of this Bedouin village, which is separated by a fence from a Jewish settlement, say the situation is getting worse. They say they have been threatened by Israeli settlers to leave the area.
"Two weeks ago, armed groups of settlers invaded our community in a terrible way. They detained all the youth, 10 percent of our community, and interrogated us violently, something only terrorists do," says Tarek Hathakeen, a resident of this area.
Residents of this region say that before the war, they used to call the Israeli police to solve the problems they had with the settlers. But now, they say no one comes to help them./VOA
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