Israeli forces raid homes and seize vehicle, tractors in Masafer Yatta
Residents said farming equipment and personal belongings were damaged or taken, and several members of one family were detained while picking olives.
Israeli forces raided several Palestinian homes and seized a vehicle and three agricultural tractors in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, on Thursday, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Anti-settlement activist Osama Makhamreh told WAFA that Israeli forces entered the communities of Khirbet al-Tabban, Asfi al-Fouqa and Asfi al-Tahta, searching homes and caves and damaging residents' belongings.
He said the troops also took farming equipment, tools and other possessions from the people living there, naming Nasser Abu Ubeid, Mohammad Awad, his son Yasser, and Ammar Abu Ali among those affected.
Makhamreh said Israeli forces seized a vehicle belonging to Mohammad Abu Aram and two tractors, one owned by Ahmad Yasser Abu Aram and the other by the Masafer Yatta Council.
He said a group of settlers had been holding the vehicle and tractors while their owners were trying to deliver animal feed to farmers in Khirbet Abu al-Halawa.
Israeli forces also detained several members of the al-Adra family while they were picking olives in Khillet Umayra, east of Yatta, and prevented them from continuing their work.
Masafer Yatta is a group of herding communities in the southern Hebron Hills of the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian residents have long been in dispute with Israeli authorities and settlers over land and access.
Residents of the area have repeatedly reported confrontations with settlers and Israeli troops in recent years, and the area has drawn attention from rights groups and international observers.