Mohammed Shalalda leaned on a cane to walk after a bloody night of Israeli settler violence that shattered his family’s sense of safety in their own home.
At dawn on Sunday, a group of settlers, numbering in the dozens, attacked the Shalalda family home in the al-Daraja area near the town of Sair, east of Hebron, wounding Mohammed, his elderly mother, his sister, and his brother.
Mohammed was sleeping on the roof of his old house when he awoke to the sound of voices around 3am. More than 15 settlers then attacked him, brutally kicking him and beating him with wooden sticks before he had barely opened his eyes.
The settlers dragged him to the ground despite his wounds bleeding profusely.
“I started screaming to wake the residents and rescue me, but the settlers put a blanket over me and continued beating me violently. I was bleeding, and I didn’t know where the bleeding was coming from; my whole body was their prey,” he told Middle East Eye.
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The settler raid is part of a broader pattern of escalating Israeli attacks aimed at forcing Palestinian families to leave their homes so that settlers can seize their land, in a policy pursued throughout the occupied West Bank.
During the assault, the settlers repeatedly asked Mohammed, “Where are the sheep?” When he replied that there were no sheep, they continued beating him and sprayed tear gas in his face from canisters they were carrying.
His brother, Amer, 36, was asleep inside the old house. When he heard his brother’s screams and realised settlers were attacking him, he rushed outside to try to stop them, but they attacked him too, severely beating him and tying a rope around his neck.
“When I saw my brother like that, I was terrified and panicked despite my own bleeding wounds. I started shouting at them to get away from him, but one of them pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed me in the leg,” Mohammed said.
Targeting women
Neighbours tried to stop the attack, but the number of settlers kept growing, eventually forming five groups of at least 10 each.
Suad Shalalda, 60, and her daughter Arwa, 20, were fast asleep in their home when they were woken by the sound of the attack, and Mohammed and Amer’s screams. They did not dare go outside, fearing they too would be assaulted.
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The settlers then stormed the house, ransacking its rooms. At that point, Arwa grabbed her phone, intending to call for help.
“They were like madmen, wreaking havoc in the house. I didn’t know what to do. One of the settlers approached my daughter and snatched her phone from her hand so she couldn’t call for help. I pushed him away, and he attacked me, pushing me with all his might against the wall. My head hit it, and I started bleeding,” Suad told MEE.
One settler struck Arwa on the head, causing a deep gash. The settlers then sprayed gas in the women’s faces, deliberately targeting their eyes.
They also smashed all mobile phones they found in the house.
On the roof, Mohammed and Amer were covered in blood and still calling out for help. More locals gathered and chased away the settlers, who fled the scene without managing to steal the sheep.
‘Nowhere else to live’
The Shalalda family has lived in the area for more than 35 years, relying on livestock farming for their livelihood. However, they are frequently subjected to settler attacks, some of which have been nearly fatal.
Mohammed suffered a deep stab wound to his leg, a head injury, and severe bruising across his body. He said settlers had previously attacked the same leg in a similar incident.
“There’s no leaving from here. We have nowhere else to live but this area where we built our homes, raise our sheep, and make our living from farming. This attack is not the first against us, and it won’t be the last,” he said.
‘They were like madmen, wreaking havoc in the house. I didn’t know what to do’
– Suad Shalalda, 60
Suad said that, despite what happened, she and her family will not leave the area, as doing so would fulfil the aim of far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who enables settlers to harass Palestinians.
Al-Daraja is an open, rural agricultural region near the eastern edge of the town, bordering the desert and grazing lands. It is an important area due to its farmland, livestock areas and shepherds’ routes.
In recent years, particularly since October 2023, the eastern areas of Sair – including al-Daraja and nearby areas such as Wadi Sair and Jorat al-Khail – have become hotspots for escalating settler attacks, amid efforts to expand the settlement outposts and the nearby settlements of Asfar and Kodovim.
The settlers carry out a systematic pattern of attacks, including preventing farmers and herders from accessing their land or forcibly removing them at gunpoint from grazing areas and agricultural roads. They also set fire to agricultural land planted with olive, almond and grape trees in the eastern vicinity of Sair.
The settlers also routinely cut down and damage trees using chainsaws, steal livestock, and harass Bedouin and pastoral communities to pressure small Palestinian population centres in the area.
In April, Israeli settlers carried out 799 attacks against Palestinian citizens and their property, a 135 percent increase compared with the same period in 2025, according to a report by the Department of Labour and Planning of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
The report said that 18 Palestinians were killed by settlers from the beginning of the year until early May, most of whom died from gunshot wounds.
In April, attacks against Palestinians included 37 shooting incidents, the uprooting and destruction of 2,414 trees, and the theft and killing of 488 head of livestock belonging to Palestinian farmers.
Settlers also damaged 53 vehicles by setting them on fire or throwing stones at them, in addition to destroying and burning five homes and agricultural livestock, and service facilities near Jerusalem and Nablus.
As part of settlement expansion, the report documented attempts to establish 20 new pastoral outposts, the highest number recorded in a single month.
By the end of 2024, 778,000 Israeli settlers were living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, compared with 3.4 million Palestinians.
