Settlers handcuff and blindfold shepherd near Hebron: WAFA

Israeli settlers handcuffed and blindfolded two men in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank, the Palestinian news agency WAFA is reporting, citing a local official.

Nidal Yunis, the head of the Masafer Yatta village council said that the settlers were dressed in army clothing and attacked one of the men – Mahmoud Issa Mohammed – while he was herding his sheep.

The settlers then led Mohammed and one other man to a place where they were detained and interrogated, said Yunis according to WAFA.

Another man – Mohammed Al-Jabareen – was reportedly forced to tear down the metal roof of his home in Shaab al-Batam, east of Yatta, before Israelis demolished it.

Israeli settlers also chased Palestinian shepherds grazing their sheep in Wadi al-Jawaya and Khallet al-Adra areas, and attacked sheep in the Khirbet Touba area, WAFA added.

Yunis said that the attacks were part of a pattern of escalating settler violence and expansion, including demolitions, detentions and damage to water wells, with communities in Masafer Yatta forming guard committees to try to protect themselves.