Life in Khallet a-Sidra, a Palestinian Bedouin hamlet in the central West Bank, had grown increasingly difficult after the government took office three years ago. Villagers described heightened harassment and violence by settler extremists, with the police and IDF failing to prevent the attacks.

Things began to turn even worse in October 2025. A series of violent assaults and other incidents over the following three months culminated with the depopulation of the hamlet, the 57th village to be emptied out by settler violence.

Now, the same settler violence that forced out Khallet a-Sidra is threatening the adjacent Palestinian town of Mukhmas, whose 1,000-plus residents fear for their safety and their livelihoods.

The former residents of Khallet a-Sidra not only blame the extremists but also accuse the government and the military of failing to clamp down on the violence and of taking steps that have made it practically impossible for them to ever return home.

“Life has become worse and worse every day. Not just over the last week or month, but for the last three years,” Yousef Zawahreh, 43, a former resident of Khallet a-Sidra, told The Times of Israel from Mukhmas earlier this month.

On the night of January 17, Zawahreh was at home with his wife when several dozen masked men descended on the dwelling. All told, the broader attack on the hamlet saw several dwellings burned down and a number of Palestinians, Israeli activists and foreign nationals injured, according to the IDF.

Zawahreh said he and his wife were beaten with clubs by the attackers, who destroyed their water tank and then burned their house down. He suffered a gash to the top of his head, a cut to his eye, and severe bruising all over his body, while his wife sustained injuries to shoulder and leg.

“I lost everything. I escaped the house with just the clothes I was wearing. I have nothing now,” said Zawahreh.

Zawahreh had long ago moved his sheep to Mukhmas to prevent them from being stolen by settlers in the area; extremists have been repeatedly accused of sheep rustling as a form of intimidation. Following the attack, he and the other approximately 15 families that made up Khallet a-Sidra abandoned the village altogether.

In response to questions from The Times of Israel about the January 17 attack, the IDF said simply that a military force together with Border Police personnel was “dispatched to the Mukhmas area” on the night of the January 17 and discovered an abandoned, Israeli-owned car with clubs inside.

The IDF said responsibility for investigating the attack had been passed to the police and Shin Bet.

The police said that officers had been dispatched to the area to collect evidence and testimony, and that an investigation had been opened.

But Zawahreh said that police officers who questioned him said since he could not identify the assailants due to their face masks, it was not possible to investigate the incident.

The shepherd is currently living in makeshift accommodation in Mukhmas, but says he cannot take his sheep out to graze for fear of being attacked again.

Residents say the violence has emanated from a nearby illegal Israeli settlement outpost repeatedly demolished by the army, only to be rebuilt again.

The violence has not stopped with the depopulation of Khallet a-Sidra, and attacks are now targeting Mukhmas itself.

Days before The Times of Israel visited Mukhmas, settlers vandalized sheds belonging to Youssef Hammas Abu Ali, 37, a chicken farmer who keeps his birds on the outskirts of the village. Fortunately for him, he had already taken his latest batch of chickens to slaughter and was yet to bring new chicks to the sheds, so he suffered only slight economic damage from the attack.

“The settlers come from everywhere and every direction and attack us in the village. The people cannot live here because the settlers come every day,” Abu Ali said.

“I’m not going leave,” he added defiantly. “This is my village. I have my house [here], my land.”

Like others, Mustafa Kanaan, 37, a herder and resident of Mukhmas who has also faced repeated settler........

© The Times of Israel