Sinjil, Ramallah District: Israeli settlers grazed cows on Palestinian lands and fired at residents

On Sunday, 7 September 2025, at about 10:00 A.M., three settlers riding an ATV and a donkey arrived with a herd of cattle at the northern lands of the town of Sinjil. They let their animals graze in residents’ private olive groves. Some locals began filming them and informed the DCO that settlers were grazing cattle among their olive trees and damaging the trees.

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After about two hours, the settlers advanced toward one of the town’s houses and grazed the cattle nearby. They shouted and waved their hands at the residents, who were in their home, and one of them made a phone call. A local resident posted about what was happening on social media, and after a few minutes, about ten young men gathered at the spot.

After about ten minutes, five vehicles arrived at the place where the settlers were, and about ten settlers got out of them, some armed with rifles. One of them suddenly began shooting at the residents and the young men who had gathered in the area. Some of the residents fled and others began throwing stones at the settlers in an attempt to drive them away.

A mother and her two daughters were watching the events unfold from a window in their home, located near where the settlers were. One of the daughters was filming when a settler fired at the window. The bullet struck the window, a few centimeters from her head, and her sister was hit in the hand by a glass shard, but did not require medical treatment.

The settler then started firing heavily at the young men and the houses.

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Soldiers arrived within about five minutes and entered the town with the settlers. They fired tear-gas canisters at the residents and houses and live rounds in the air. The soldiers demanded that all residents who were in the street leave the area. They remained there for about an hour and then left.

M.G., a local resident and father of three spoke about the incidents in a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Mohammad Romaneh on 9 September 2025:

On Sunday, 7 September 2025, at about 9:45 A.M., I was at home with my wife, our children, my mother and my sister. I saw three settlers leaving an outpost that settlers established 5-6 months ago in the Batan al-Halawah area, north of the town, across from my house. As far as I could see, two of them were riding an ATV, and the third was riding a donkey. They led a herd of 20-30 head of cattle toward the northern plain of the town, where there are many olive groves, north of Route 5056.

As soon as I saw the three settlers, I called my cousin, ‘A.G., because he is an activist who documents settler attacks. He arrived at my house a few minutes later. We sat together on the porch overlooking the northern valley in town and ‘A.G. began filming the settlers and their cattle herd hanging around the olive trees. He also called the Sinjil Municipality and the Palestinian military DCO and told them that settlers were among the olive trees.

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After that, he left my house, and I stayed home with the family. Meanwhile, the settlers continued grazing their cattle among the olive trees, and the town was quiet.

Around noon, a local resident sent a message on a private group for town residents, updating that the settlers’ cattle was near his house. His house is across from mine, 250 meters to the north.

Around noon, my cousin ‘A.G. came back to my house. At 12:10 P.M., the three settlers arrived at Route 5056 and were about 100 meters north of my house. As soon as they reached the road, they began shouting in Hebrew and waving their hands at us.

Their shouting grew louder, and in the meantime, about five young guys from town came and stopped about 15 meters south of my house. ‘A.G. went out to them and asked them to stay away from the house so we wouldn’t have trouble with the settlers, especially since there was a baby in the house who was born a few days ago.

The guys retreated toward the al- al- Mizer'ah neighborhood, about 40 meters southwest of my house.

At that time, the deputy mayor of Sinjil Municipality arrived and called the Palestinian civilian and military DCOs.

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After about 10 more minutes, a white Toyota came from the east, stopped near the settlers, and a settler with a rifle got out of it. Right at that moment, four other vehicles arrived, two from the west, where there are two settlements – Giv’at Haro’eh and Ma’ale Levona, and two from the east, from Route 60. All these vehicles also stopped near the settlers, and about ten settlers got out of them, some armed with rifles. At that point, there were about 15 settlers standing in front of my house and the houses in the town.

‘A.G. and the deputy mayor of Sinjil Municipality were standing 20 meters south of my house, on higher ground, and I was standing on the porch overlooking the whole area.

My father had also come over after hearing about the settler gathering near my house. ‘A.G. filmed the events with a camera.

About five minutes after the settlers’ vehicles stopped on Route 5056, the armed settler who got out of the white Toyota aimed his gun at the town houses and at the young guys watching the settlers from the street in the al-Mizer'ah neighborhood. The settler let out a volley of live fire in the direction of ‘A.G. and the deputy mayor, and they immediately fled toward town.

As that was happening, I saw the shooting settler running toward the town’s agricultural lands southeast of Route 5056, meaning, he was getting closer to my house.

I rushed in and started shutting the windows, because I was afraid for my children and the rest of the family. Then I went back to the front porch overlooking the groves to close the other windows.

Suddenly, I felt a bullet pass over my head and heard a very loud whistle. I was too scared to go back inside. I ran west toward the neighborhood. I noticed that the same armed settler was standing near my house, and there were other settlers with him, at least one of whom was also armed.

The armed settlers began firing heavily in our direction and the direction of the houses in town. This was at 12:45 P.M. I know the precise time, because that was when I called the occupation police and complained that settlers were surrounding my house and shooting live fire. I also told them that the house was full of children and women and tried to explain to them how dangerous the situation was. They asked me to send them the location, and when I did, they told me they would be there in 30 minutes.

About ten minutes after the settlers fired live rounds, seven occupation army soldiers arrived. They advanced toward the neighborhood, and the settlers followed them until the soldiers and some settlers reached the neighborhood’s main street.

The soldiers began firing large quantities of tear-gas canisters to disperse the young guys from the town and force them back. The soldiers and settlers stayed in the al-Mizer'ah neighborhood for almost an hour, and then the settlers left with the soldiers following.

My children, my wife, my sister and my mother suffocated from the enormous amount of tear gas that the occupation soldiers fired.

The settlers’ aggression is not aimed at specific people, and it’s aimed at the land itself, too, the trees, the agricultural lands. The fact that they bring their herds to graze inside the olive groves during the olive harvest season shows that the land is on their list of targets.

Musa Shabaneh, 52, father of seven said:

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I am married and have seven children, ages nine to 27. Two of them are under 18. We have lived in the al-Mizer'ah neighborhood in northern Sinjil for more than ten years. I used to have a nursery to the east of the village, near Route 60, but about a year ago, the occupation authorities started building a fence that separates the village from Route 60 on the east side of the road. This fence runs through my nursery’s plot, so I was forced to move it to the building where we live, to the floor below our apartment.

On Sunday, 7 September 2025, at about 12:30 P.M., I got home from the town center. I parked in front of the nursery and the house, and then I saw a group of about 20 young men and residents gathered on our street, 40–50 meters north of our house.

I got out of the car and walked toward them. I asked why they had gathered there, and they said settlers were standing near Route 5056, which connects Route 60 to the settlements of Ma’ale Levona and Giv’at Haro’eh and runs adjacent to the village lands. This road is clearly visible from my house.

I looked and saw five or six settlers, two of them armed with rifles, standing in the village’s agricultural lands south of Route 5056, near M.G.’s house. I called my wife and asked her to lock the main door of our building. I went back to our building and closed the nursery’s outer gate to prevent settlers from reaching the glass door and breaking it. Then, I moved my car away, fearing settlers would get to it and burn it, and parked it about 50 meters from the house, near the Abu Tamer mini-market.

After that, I walked back toward the residents gathered on the street, and I saw the settlers getting even closer to M.G.’s house, which was 70–80 meters from them. At exactly 12:43 P.M., one of the settlers fired a single bullet toward the village houses.

The young men retreated, and at that moment, my wife called and told me that the settler’s shot hit the window of our house that faces the direction where the settlers were. She said the bullet hit the window just as she and my daughters were standing at the window. The older daughter, 20, was filming the settlers’ attack at the northern edge of the village, and her nine-year-old sister and my wife were standing next to her. She said the glass shards flew onto them, and when the bullet hit the window, my youngest daughter fell to the floor, screaming in pain, and told her mother she was injured.

At that moment, I didn’t know what to do. After the settler’s first shot, which hit my house, he started firing volleys at anything that moved, and I couldn’t go back home to see how my daughter was doing. I couldn’t get away either, because I was afraid the settlers would advance toward the houses. The settlers continued advancing until they reached M.G.’s house. At that point, the young men had already retreated because they were afraid of the gunfire. After seven to 10 minutes, occupation soldiers arrived on foot and entered the neighborhood along the same path the settlers had taken, through the fields south of Route 5056.

The soldiers started firing large quantities of tear-gas canisters toward the young men, and they were forced to retreat further south. The soldiers kept advancing, and three settlers walked behind them. They walked along the neighborhood’s main street, and when they passed the Abu Hibah car repair shop, the settlers stopped there. The soldiers continued advancing up to the front of my house. They stayed in the area for about an hour, then left the way they came. In the end, it turned out my daughter was only lightly injured by glass shards and was mainly very frightened. Fortunately, no one else was hurt.

This is not the first time settlers have shot at my house. It’s happened twice before. Since 7 October 2023, settlers have been coming to our neighborhood frequently and attacking residents’ homes and vehicles. In one of the attacks, they broke the windows of my car, and another time, they punctured its tires while it was parked in front of our building.

My greatest fear today is the settlers’ violent attacks. I am afraid they will burn with us inside. We see how settler violence is escalating now in other Palestinian towns and villages, especially when the occupation army provides them full protection. This time, the bullet only hit the house window, but next time, I don’t know who or what the settlers’ bullets will hit.