Arabic version: موسم قطف الزيتون يواجه هجمات في أنحاء الضفة الغربية
According to Al Jazeera, Palestinians seeking early access to olive groves across the occupied West Bank faced attacks by settlers and restrictions by Israeli soldiers before the picking season officially began. Harvesters were reportedly beaten, trees burned, and crops and equipment stolen, while some land was closed to its Palestinian owners.
On October 3, settlers from the illegal Mevaser Shalom outpost attacked a family harvesting in Jabal Qamas, between Osarin and Beita south of Nablus. Hussam Adily was left in critical condition and his brother and mother were injured, according to Israeli activist Jonathan Pollack and Arabic-language media reports. The attackers later entered Osarin, where they ransacked a home and smashed cars. The Israeli military said it opened an investigation but that the attackers had fled before soldiers arrived.
Al Jazeera reported similar incidents in villages including Rantis, Sebastia, Beit Imrin, Deir Sharaf, Aqraba, az-Zawiya, Ramin and Arrabuna. Palestinian farmers were reportedly pepper-sprayed, run over or assaulted with sticks and fists. In Sinjil, Rafat, Kafr Ra’i and Faqqua, settlers allegedly took harvested olives, ladders and tarps. Near Abu Dis, settlers reportedly burned about 55 olive trees and a family’s newly picked harvest.
Israeli forces also prevented farmers from reaching land in Deir Istiya, Farkha, Haris, az-Zawiya and Silwan, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. In Beita, soldiers halted a harvest after settlers arrived and forced out international volunteers at gunpoint, Haaretz reported. Two Palestinians were shot dead in separate incidents involving settlers and Israeli forces, while a 45-year-old Palestinian man died of cardiac arrest while detained at a checkpoint east of Tulkarem.
In Gaza, Israeli strikes continued despite a year-old “ceasefire”, Al Jazeera said. The Gaza Health Ministry’s toll since the truce rose from 1,422 killed on September 29 to 1,460 by October 5. The cumulative death toll since October 2023 was reported as 74,243 after 181 previously unverified deaths were added. Gaza authorities also reported the killing of journalist Muhammad al-Najjar, the 263rd reporter killed since the war began.
