On Monday, 28 October 2024, around 11:00 A.M., residents of Sinjil noticed fire on their farmland. Several residents rushed there and saw five settlers. Two of them, one armed and the other a settler they recognized from a nearby outpost, were torching one end of the fields. The others were torching several spots at the other end. When the group of three settlers noticed the residents, they joined the other two. Soon after, two vehicles drove up and eight soldiers got out.
The residents asked the soldiers to call the fire department, but their only action was to order the residents to leave. The latter refused to go and tried to put out the fire with other town residents who came to help. The settlers and soldiers left. A few minutes later, the residents noticed another fire about 500 meters away from them. They rushed over there and saw two settlers running towards the outpost.
Palestinian firefighters arrived and worked three hours to put out the fires, and only then did the residents go home.
Around 7:30 P.M., residents noticed another fire on their lands. They went out to check and found that an ancient olive tree had been torched. A Palestinian who was there called Israeli firefighters, who managed to put out most of the flames, but the tree continued to burn internally until it was consumed the next morning.
The arson also led to the burning down of two tents that residents used for farming activities, and of a field used for pasture.
