Israel is currently destroying a Palestinian village. The Canary spoke to residents on the ground.

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided the occupied West Bank village of Al-Mughayyir, North East of Ramallah, on Thursday morning, under the pretext that a settler – who are all illegal under international law – had been shot near the illegal settlement of Malachei Hashalom, and the perpetrator was seen heading to the village.

Israeli Occupation Forces lie to raid village of Al-Mughayyir

According to Marzouq Abu Naim, a member of Al-Mughayyir’s Council, they blocked the village entrances, and then dozens of soldiers and 15 army vehicles went in. They searched the houses – vandalizing and robbing some of them, and firing stun grenades:

Meanwhile, eight bulldozers were brought onto the village land and used to destroy thousands of olive trees-some of them more than 100 years old. This photo shows the before and after shots:

Villagers were unable to sleep due to the loud noises caused by the heavy machinery crushing the trees next to their homes, a move the military says is necessary to improve their defences:

11 residents have so far been arrested – including on Saturday the Head of Al-Mughayyir Council, Amin Muhammad Abu Alia.

If it continues today (Sunday 24 August), the raid will be in its fourth consecutive day:

When Abu Naim spoke with the Canary on Friday evening, the checkpoints had gone and the destruction had stopped for the day, but the military vehicles were still in the village, and the soldiers were still firing tear gas.

Abu Naim told us:

There was no reason for this to happen. The soldiers had made a lie that someone from our village has fired on a settler, and injured him. They were planning for a long time to start destroying the trees. They have been in the village all day, today and yesterday, checking all the homes, destroying them, and saying they were searching for guns. When they didn’t find anything, they took their cars instead. About 20 vehicles have been destroyed or taken away.

IOF prevents Palestine Red Crescent prevented from reaching woman in labour

On Friday, Israeli occupation forces also prevented a Palestine Red Crescent (PRC) ambulance team from entering Al-Mughayyir, which had turned up to transport a woman from the village, who was in labour. They also confiscated the ambulance’s keys:

In a statement, PRC said:

The medical team was forced to carry the woman on foot to receive care. This is a serious violation of international humanitarian law , and the right of patients to safe access to healthcare.

Late on Saturday night, the Head of Al-Mughayyir Village Council,  Amin Muhammad Abu Alia, was arrested, and taken away by the IOF.

Abu Naim says half the people in the village are farmers, and used to take their sheep outside to graze, but are now not permitted to do so:

The military has said, by the orders of the settlers, they have to stay in now. But every week, the settlers come to the village with their sheep and cows, and go near our houses.

Settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank are nothing new, but since 7 October 2023 they have become systemic, and have reached a new level of violence and intensity. Most settlers are armed by the occupation, and are fully protected and supported by its military, and it is now difficult to differentiate between soldier and settler, as they often dress the same. 

The illegal Israeli settlers and the IOF work together to intimidate, and drive Palestinians from their land

Al-Mughayyir is surrounded by settlements from the North, East and South sides, and Abu Naim says there are now plans to start building two new settlements in the North of Al-Mughayyir. Because Palestinians are banned from going anywhere near these settlements, and would be shot if they did so, the only way for residents to go out is by the one road on the West side of the village, but the settlers do not let the cars travel freely.

Abu Naim told the Canary:

The villagers are very sad for the destruction of such a big area of trees. More than half the trees have gone. The settlers want to make the people leave the village, and are always telling lies to the soldiers, often bringing the soldiers with them, when they come on our land, and they destroy water pipes and cause many problems. They often come knocking on the doors with metal, checking the houses in the middle of the night, and letting off tear gas, and then detained those children who are between about 15 and 20 years old.

Saturday was the third consecutive day of house raids and olive tree destruction by the IOF, and this will, most likely, continue in Al-Mughayyir over the coming days.

The village residents have also endured a series of brutal assaults in the past year, and settlers have torched homes, vehicles, and farmland, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction.

Just last week on 16 August, the village was raided and the IOF fatally shot 18-year-old Hamdan Abu Aliya. Dozens of settlers had earlier invaded Al-Mughayyir, setting fire to cars and damaging olive trees. In April 2024, another young Palestinian man was killed, dozens were injured, and nearly 40 homes were set ablaze. 

Violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank a ‘matter of policy’

The village’s struggle against settler violence – backed by the occupation’s military – reflects a broader, troubling pattern of land seizure, home demolitions, and resource control in the West Bank, which UN experts say is an intentional strategy to erase Palestinian presence in key agricultural areas, undermine their food security and food sovereignty and ultimately to forcibly displace Palestinians from their land.

The United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has documented more than 1,000 attacks by Israeli settlers in 230 communities across the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2025, which resulted in the killing of 11 Palestinians and the injury of roughly 700 others by Israeli settlers or forces as well as property damage.

In recent weeks, settlers have shot and killed Palestinians in the occupied West in four separate incidents. Although three of the shootings were captured on camera, not a single settler has been prosecuted. According to Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem:

This is not an isolated failure but a matter of policy – Israel enables settlers to shoot Palestinians and grants them impunity, even when they kill.

Featured image and additional images supplied