On Friday, October 16, Israeli settlers carried out 34 attacks on Palestinian farmers, their land and crops across six West Bank governorates, injuring at least 19 people amid the olive harvest, according to a Palestinian commission.
The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said 15 attacks took place in Ramallah and al-Bireh, 13 in Nablus, two each in Salfit and Jenin, and one each in Tulkarm and Hebron; it described the figures as preliminary. Reported assaults included beating olive pickers, detaining them, forcing them from their fields, stealing olives and farming equipment, and setting trees and vehicles alight. The commission said children, women, older people, journalists and rescue workers were among those targeted, and reported additional cases of breathing difficulties.
In Burqa, two brothers aged eight and 12 and their father were injured while the family picked olives; three people were hurt in Asira al-Qibliya and two farmers in Beita, all in Nablus governorate. The commission also said Israeli forces separately removed farmers from fields and seized crops, while settlers attacked pickers and took olives and equipment in Wadi Abwein. In Abu Falah, Al Jazeera reported that about 80 masked settlers attacked people harvesting olives; Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was among those injured.
The attacks came during a harvest that Al Jazeera described as an important source of income for Palestinians in the territory.