On 30 October 2020, at around 7:30 A.M., Hamdan al-Khatib went to his house, which is under construction, on the western side of the village. He discovered that settlers had taken down two utility poles nearby, cut water pipes in the house and stolen a water meter and a faucet. As a result, the road and the ground near the house were flooded with water.
In a testimony he gave B'Tselem researcher Salma a-Deb'i the day after the incident, Hamdan al-Khatib (46), a father of five, recounted:
On Friday, 30 October 2020, my brother and I went to the house I'm building in the village to wet the ceiling we poured a few days ago. When we got there at around 7:30 A.M., we discovered that settlers had cut down two wooden utility poles that were supposed to supply electricity to the house, which is at the end of the street. We also found they’d cut the water pipes and stolen the water meter and the main faucet, which flooded the place.
My family and I are living in a rented place in Ramallah and can’t wait for the construction to end so we can move in. Those utility poles cost me NIS 3,000 and the water meter cost NIS 600. Add that to the damage to the plumbing and the faucet. Now the work will be delayed until everything's fixed. I'm afraid they'll come back and attack us.