Deir Jarir, Ramallah District: Soldiers assisting settlers attacking homes shot and killed an onlooker from the village
24 January 2026
On Sunday, 23 November 2025, at around 3:30 P.M., four settlers and a soldier set out from the Hessed Le’avraham outpost, which was established in 2025 on a hill in the Tal al-‘Assur area, about 270 meters north of the village of Deir Jarir. The group walked down to the home of Sidqi M’aali, 74, which lies further down the hill, and started throwing stones at the house while the family was sitting on the porch.
Several family members went outside and started throwing stones back at the assailants to fend them off. However, the settlers managed to get near the area in front of the house, where two cars were parked, and smashed their windshields. After 20 minutes or so, about 30 young people from the village arrived to help the family after learning of the attack on social media.
The youths threw stones at the settlers and the soldier, forcing them to move away. Meanwhile, three other soldiers arrived and started firing tear gas at the youths who were defending the home.
A short while later, two military jeeps arrived and about 10 soldiers got out. The jeeps then drove to the outpost and stopped next to it. The soldiers from the jeeps also fired tear gas at the youths, who backed away toward the main road of the village.
After the youths withdrew, some of them began throwing stones at the soldiers, who were positioned higher up from them, about 80 meters away. Other youths, including village resident Baraa M’aali, 24, stood by and filmed what was happening on their cellphones.
At that point, village residents noticed one of the soldiers kneel in a sniping position. He then opened fire at the youths. Baraa M’aali, who was standing about 25 meters from the youths throwing stones and about 100 meters from the soldiers, was shot in the chest. He was taken to the medical center in the nearby town of Silwad by an ambulance that was on standby at the village, and then transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex, where he was pronounced dead.
The forces stayed by the village homes until evening, pointing their rifles at passersby and threatening them. Only at around 9:00 P.M. did they leave the village. They went toward the Hessed Le’avraham outpost and about an hour later, left the area entirely.
Following M’aali’s killing, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit issued a statement saying “forces from Battalion 101 of the Paratroopers Brigade rushed to the Ofra area in the Benjamin Division earlier, following a report about several terrorists who threw stones at Israeli civilians. Upon arrival, the forces took action and used riot dispersal means to restore order in the area. During the operation, a terrorist threw rocks at the force, which responded with precise fire to neutralize the threat and eliminated the terrorist. There are no casualties among our forces .”
However, B’Tselem’s investigation found that it was the settlers who first attacked the Palestinians, and that the soldiers who arrived later not only allowed the assailants to leave but also took their place in attacking residents trying to defend their property. The investigation also found that Baraa M’aali was shot in the chest while standing dozens of meters from the residents throwing stones and more than 100 meters from the soldiers themselves, posing no danger to the soldiers or to anyone else.
Since October 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank. At least 20 of them were killed in incidents that began with settlers attacking Palestinians.
B’Tselem field researcher Mohammad Romaneh collected testimonies from several eyewitnesses:
On 27 November 2025, Sudqi M’aali, 74, a father of five, recounted:
I live in the al-‘Asur area, in the north of Deir Jarir, which is designated Area B under the Oslo Accords, in a three-story residential building constructed in 1988 south of the Tal al-'Asur camp. The camp used to be a Jordanian military camp, and since 1967 has been a military occupation base. I live in the building with my family and with four of my sons and their families.
In April 2025, settlers started putting up an outpost on Deir Jarir land [the Hessed Le’avraham outpost]. These are private plots owned by residents of Deir Jarir and Silwad, in an area designated Area C under the Oslo Accords. The settlers set up the outpost about 150 meters south of the Tal al-‘Asur camp and about 300 meters north of our home.
In August 2025, the occupation authorities paved a road that branches off the main Deir Jarir road towards the camp. That month, the settlers paved another road branching off the military road toward their outpost. At first, there were only tents at the outpost. Later they put up some trailers there.
Since the road to the outpost was paved, settlers have been using it all the time. They travel between the road leading to the settlement of Ofra and the outpost. They also drive between Route 449, which runs through Kafr Malik village land, and the outpost established west of Deir Jarir [“Mitzpeh Haro’im”, built on the same land from which the Amona outpost was previously evacuated]. There are usually two or three settlers at the outpost north of my home, at all times. Sometimes the number rises to 10-15 settlers, some in military uniform and others in civilian clothes. I’ve also seen women and children nearby. At first, I didn’t think it was a farm outpost, but in October 2025 I saw that they brought several cows and kept them there for a few days. They set the cows to graze on the village residents’ farmland and on private land I own above my home, where I grow tobacco, vegetables and barley. Later, the cows disappeared from the area.
On Saturday, 15 November 2025, settlers who came from the direction of the outpost in the north attacked homes in the western part of the village, near my home. They threw stones at the houses, and youths from the village arrived and confronted them by throwing stones. Occupation forces also arrived and fired tear gas and live shots at the youths, injuring some of them.
On Saturday, 22 November 2025, at around 3:30 P.M., settlers again attacked homes in the western part of the village. They began throwing stones at houses, and once again youths and other people from the village arrived and threw stones back at them. Israeli occupation forces arrived again and fired tear gas and live shots at the youths, who were forced to draw back towards the village. The settlers then withdrew, too.
On Sunday, 23 November 2025, around 3:30 P.M., I was sitting on the northern porch of my house with my grandchildren when we saw four settlers and a soldier set out from the outpost and start walking towards us. The soldier, who was in uniform, was carrying a rifle and his face was uncovered. The others were wearing civilian clothes and had their faces covered. The four settlers came close to our house, while the soldier stayed a bit further back. When the settlers were about 40-50 meters from us, they started throwing stones at the house. My grandchildren immediately went out to try to stop them from getting any closer, and started throwing stones back at them. When I saw that, I shouted at my grandchildren to come back inside because I was afraid the settlers or the soldier would shoot them.
The stones the settlers threw hit the walls of the house, and one nearly hit me on the head. The settlers managed to get close to the northern side of the house, where one of my grandchildren had parked his car, and they smashed its windows with stones. The stones also hit my Hyundai, which was parked in our yard, shattering three of its windows.
After the settlers attacked us for about 15-20 minutes, while my grandchildren tried to fend them off, about 20-25 youths from the village came to help us. About 10-15 minutes after they arrived, we managed all of us together to push the settlers back a bit towards the outpost.
About 40-45 minutes after the settlers’ attack began, several occupation soldiers arrived, and I saw three military vehicles parked by the outpost. I saw that the soldiers made no attempt to stop the settlers or move them away. As soon as they arrived, they started firing tear gas canisters at our house and at the youths who were confronting the settlers. A few moments later, more soldiers arrived and positioned themselves between the youths and the settlers. Meanwhile, my wife and my son’s wife started choking from the gas, and I took them in my car to the emergency clinic in the town of Silwad nearby. I dropped them off there and went home, because I was afraid the settlers or the occupation soldiers would go into the house.
When I got back home, I saw about 10-12 soldiers stationed outside. One of them ordered me to go inside. I went into the house, and then I saw four soldiers heading east towards my sheep pen. They jumped over the pen into an empty lot overlooking the main road of the village, where the youths had withdrawn after the tear gas was fired. The youths had stopped on the road just opposite the lot.
I went to the east-facing porch, which overlooks the lot with the soldiers, and clearly saw the soldiers taking up positions near my sheep pen. I saw one of them kneel in a sniping position and aim his rifle at the youths gathered on the main road and at the entrance to the al-Ghazal wedding hall. I tried to signal to the guys at the entrance to the hall to get back, because I was scared they couldn’t see the soldiers from where they were standing.
A few minutes after the soldiers took up positions in the empty lot, I heard a single gunshot. Right after that, the guys shouted, “He’s hit!” From my porch, I watched them carry a wounded youth who had fallen down in front of a butcher shop opposite the empty lot, and realized the soldiers had shot one of them. Later, I learned his name was Baraa M’aali. Soon after he was shot, news spread that he had died of his injury.
After the shooting, the youths moved away from the main road, but the soldiers stayed near my house until about 9:00 P.M. and they went towards the outpost. They stayed next to the outpost until 10:00 P.M. While I was there, the soldiers kept aiming laser beams at us and at our house, and we were afraid to go outside.
We live in constant fear and pressure because the settlers have intensified their attacks on the village. Just recently, they started attacking homes in the western part of the village. Every time they attack the village, Israeli soldiers come and give them protection. That makes us feel unsafe all the time, especially because we have a lot of women and children in our home.
On 30 November 2025, M.H. recounted:
On Sunday, 23 November 2025, between 3:50 and 4:00 P.M., a message was shared on social media saying that settlers were attacking Sudqi M’aali’s home in the northwestern part of the village. It’s one of the houses closest to the outpost that settlers established in the middle of 2025.
I went there immediately, because I document most of the incidents and attacks by settlers and soldiers on the village and its residents. When I got to Sudqi M’aali’s house, I saw about four settlers and a soldier with a long rifle. The settlers were throwing stones at the house. I arrived together with about 25-30 young men from the village, and then the settlers drew back a bit towards their outpost, apparently because so many youths arrived. The guys confronted them by throwing stones from no more than 30-35 meters away.
But a few minutes after they began confronting the settlers, I saw three soldiers standing at the top of the hill near the outpost, overlooking the area where the youths and settlers were gathered.
At that point, one of the soldiers fired a single shot in the air, and then all three started firing tear gas at the youths, while the settlers continued to draw back gradually towards the outpost. This went on for about 5-7 minutes. During that time, the soldiers fired a lot of tear gas at the youths, forcing them to retreat. While they were retreating, two military jeeps suddenly drove up from the main road of the village.
The jeeps stopped opposite Sudqi M’aali’s house and a few soldiers got out of them. Then the jeeps drove back along the main road of the village, towards the settlement. The youths found themselves surrounded. In front of them, to the north, three soldiers were firing tear gas at them. Behind them, to the south, the soldiers who got out of the jeeps also started firing tear gas. The youths were forced to head back to the main road. But instead of going along the road leading to Sudqi’s house, they moved between the houses. I should say that the first three soldiers stayed in their position until the second force arrived, and only then moved closer to Sudqi’s house.
The youths then retreated to the main road, while the first three soldiers and a few of the soldiers from the second group that arrived took up positions in an open area facing them. I saw several soldiers from the second force jump over Sudqi M’aali’s sheep pen into an empty lot opposite the youths on the main road. Then I saw them kneel in sniping positions and aim their rifles at us. One of the soldiers even aimed his rifle laser at me while I was filming them.
Baraa M’aali and I were standing opposite a butcher shop on the main road, about 100-120 meters from the soldiers. The youths shouted at the soldiers and taunted them. We watched the soldiers. Some of the youths tried to throw stones at them with improvised slingshots. Suddenly, without any warning, one of the soldiers fired a single shot that hit Baraa and knocked him to the ground. This happened at 4:42 P.M. Even though Baraa was standing about 20-25 meters away from the guys throwing stones, a bullet fired by the occupation army hit him and killed him.
A few minutes before the shooting, an ambulance from the Palestinian Red Crescent drove by and stopped when the driver saw the youths and soldiers. After Baraa was shot, he was put in the ambulance and I saw him reciting the Shahadatein (a prayer traditionally said before death). I got into the ambulance and we drove towards Silwad. Already on the way there, I realized Baraa wasn’t showing any signs of life. I saw he’d been hit on the left side, below the chest. I didn’t see an exit wound.
We arrived at the medical center in Silwad, where the doctors tried to resuscitate him, without success. Then we put him back in the ambulance and drove to the Palestine Medical Complex, where the doctors again attempted resuscitation, but there was no response. The doctors pronounced Baraa dead at around 5:40 P.M.
