On Tuesday, 25 February 2025, at around 2:00 P.M., two settlers arrived in an ATV on the path leading to the home of the N. family in Kh. Ibziq, in the northern Jordan Valley. Q.N., 22, who has special needs, was sitting near the path. When he saw the settlers, he panicked and ran away screaming. The settlers chased him, and one of them stabbed him in the buttocks with a sharp object. The settlers then left.
His father, M.N., 52, who was home at the time, called an ambulance and Q.N. was taken to it in a car belonging to a local resident. The ambulance took him to the Turkish hospital in Tubas, where his wound was stitched.
M.N., a father of ten, said in a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher ‘Aref Daraghmeh on 2 March 2025:
During February 2025, settlers passed by our tents almost every day. The tents are located about 20 meters from a dirt path that leads to the village of Raba. The settlers approached me a few times and complained that my son yelled at them. I told them he has a disability and can’t speak clearly, and that no one understands what he says. One of the settlers told me: “We’re warning you, if he yells at us, we’ll beat him.” “It makes no difference to us whether people are disabled or not.” The settler also took a photo of my ID card. I tried to explain to them that he always shouts, even when there’s no one around, and that he doesn’t mean to shout at them specifically.
On 25 February 2025, in the early afternoon, my son was sitting in front of the house, close to the dirt path that runs past us. Several jeeps passed by, I don’t know if they belonged to settlers, and the same settler who threatened me also passed by in an ATV, along with another settler. They drove towards the west and then returned. They went up to my son, and when he saw them, he started screaming and running towards the house and the hill in front of him. His mother ran to him, but the settlers chased him and one of them pulled out a sharp object, a knife or dagger, and struck at him. The first strike hit his legs, and the second higher up, close to the leg. Then the settlers fled.
I saw blood streaming, covering his legs. We called a local car that took us to a point where we met an ambulance that took us to the Turkish hospital in Tubas. Luckily, the injury was relatively minor. He got treatment; the wound was stitched up, and then we went home.
Our situation is very difficult. I have five family members with disabilities or illnesses. We live in an area that’s very far from the settlers, but they come to us almost every day. They’re trying to drive us out to take over our lands. They harass the other shepherds too. I am very afraid for my family’s life. These are young settlers, and they won’t listen. I’ve already told them that my son couldn’t speak properly, but they didn’t listen and beat him. If he hadn’t run away, they would have killed him.
Thank God, the incident ended relatively safely, but I’m very afraid of future attacks. They follow us all the time, wander around our tents and come over when we graze.