Four Palestinians and a foreign solidarity activist were injured, and several homes and vehicles were set on fire on Saturday evening, January 17, in a wide-scale attack by settlers on the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khallet al-Sidra, near the town of Mukhmas, northeast of Jerusalem. WAFA reported that the colonists launched an assault on the community, firing live ammunition, attacking residents, and setting fire to several homes and vehicles.
This attack is part of a growing series of settler-led assaults, carried out under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, targeting Palestinian residents and their property in the area, with the goal of forcibly displacing them from their land. At the same hour, settlers attacked a Palestinian vehicle on Saturday evening at the entrance of the village of Umm Safa, northwest of Ramallah. No injuries were reported.
According to MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash), “Grave reports have been coming about the attack of settlers terrorists in Mukhmas. We must not stay silent, we must not get used to this, and we must not allow neo-Nazi scums backed by the government and the occupation forces to terrorize, loot, burn, and kill. We demand immediate protection for Palestinians and for the activists on the ground, the prosecution of the terrorists, and the removal of the government of blood.”
Footage posted to Palestinian social media shows settlers torching homes and cars during an assault on the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khallet al-Sidra, near Mukhmas in the occupied West Bank, January 17, 2026 (Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
In addition, Israeli colonists protected by occupation forces, attacked on Saturday afternoon Palestinian residents in the Huwara area of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron. Osama Makhameh, an anti-settlement activist in southern Hebron, told WAFA that dozens of armed colonists from the Carmel settlement and two illegal outposts built on Palestinian land, physically assaulted and attacked residents in Huwara under the protection of Israeli soldiers. Colonists also released their livestock into the vicinity of the residents’ homes and assaulted Issa Ali Atiyat, spraying him with pepper spray and causing him to faint. He was later transferred to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. Israeli soldiers further detained several Palestinians, including Ahmed Ali Atiyat, and summoned Adel Hamamdeh for interrogation.
Last night, settlers attacked water wells in the Ein Samia area, northeast of Ramallah, causing a disruption in water supply for several hours, the Jerusalem District Water Department reported. The department warned that repeated attacks on the main water source, which serves more than 19 communities in the area, pose serious risks to residents’ access to water and exacerbate the hardships faced by the population under already difficult conditions.
Today morning, settlers attacked Palestinian farmers on Sunday while they were working their land in the Mofeh Plain in the northern Jordan Valley, northeast of the occupied West Bank. According to Muataz Bisharat, the official responsible for Jordan Valley affairs in Tubas Governorate, a group of colonists assaulted Palestinian citizens as they were planting their fields and sprayed them with pepper spray. He added that Israeli occupation forces intervened in favor of the colonists and detained two brothers, Hussein and Mohammad Yousef Bisharat.
The village of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, remains under a wide-scale Israeli military offensive since Saturday afternoon, according to local sources. Deputy head of the Al-Mughayyir Village Council, Marzouq Abu Naim, told WAFA that the ongoing incursion has included an attack on a condolence gathering for the slain child Mohammed Al-Nassan, raids on several homes, and the seizure of a house belonging to local Palestinian citizen Hamza Abu Alia, which was turned into a military post after his family was forced to leave amid harsh weather conditions.
Abu Naim added that Israeli forces assaulted Nader Abu Alia, a child with special needs, beating him and attempting to force him to walk despite his physical disability. He noted that the continued raid has led to the suspension of school classes in the village. Al-Mughayyir and other villages east of Ramallah have been subjected to repeated attacks by Israeli forces and colonists, most recently the killing of 14-year-old Mohammed Al-Nassan by Israeli soldiers two days ago.
Yesterday, a settler sealed an agricultural road near the village of Al-Mughayyir and closed the road leading to the Abu Hamam hamlet, south of the village, preventing residents from accessing their agricultural lands. On Friday, Israeli army detained four international solidarity activists from the same hamlet, while they were attempting to document colonist attacks and provide support to residents.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33192
