IOF, settlers destroy 8,000 trees in one week in West Bank

Israeli occupation forces aggression and attacks by illegal settlers destroyed more than 8,000 olive trees across the occupied West Bank in one week, inflicting losses estimated at nearly $7 million, according to the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry.

In a statement released on Thursday, the Ministry said the damage was recorded over a single week in December and represented a sharp blow to Palestinian farming and food security.

In its weekly report, the Ministry warned of what it described as a “dangerous and accelerating escalation” in assaults by Israeli forces and settlers, with agriculture increasingly becoming a direct target.

The attacks, which occurred during the third week of December, were described as part of a systematic policy aimed at “seizing Palestinian land and emptying it of its indigenous inhabitants”.

Thousands of trees uprooted
According to the report, the most severe damage was concentrated in the northern and central West Bank. Israeli forces uprooted about 5,000 olive trees in the town of Silat al-Harithiya, west of Jenin, while another 3,000 trees were destroyed in Turmus Ayya, east of Ramallah.

Additional bulldozing operations were reported in several other areas, including the uprooting of 156 olive trees in the eastern part of al-Quds, 100 fig trees in Tulkarm, 13 olive trees in eastern Qalqilya, and 19 olive trees, 10 of them described as ancient, in Salfit and Beit Lahm.

Beyond damage to trees, the Ministry documented widespread destruction of agricultural infrastructure. This included the demolition of 13 water wells and agricultural rooms, damage to irrigation networks, the theft of water pumps, the destruction of 82 beehives, and the poisoning of sheep herds in multiple locations.

Such attacks, the Ministry said, undermine farmers’ ability to remain on and cultivate their land.

Assualts intensifies during harvest seasons
The West Bank has seen a sustained rise in brutal assaults by Israeli forces and settlers, often coinciding with key agricultural periods such as planting and harvest seasons. Palestinian officials argue that the timing is deliberate, designed to pressure farmers into abandoning their land.

Figures from the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, an official Palestinian body, show that illegal settlers carried out 621 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank in November alone.

Since October 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 1,103 Palestinians in the West Bank, including the eastern part of al-Quds, injured nearly 11,000 others, and detained about 21,000 people, according to Palestinian data.