Kafr Kadum, Qalqilyah District: Settlers attacked olive harvesters, expelled them from their lands in Area B, and then attacked and severely injured one of them while he was trying to leave

On Tuesday, 28 October 2025, at around 7:30 A.M., together with four workers, Hikmat Shteiwi, 51, drove from Kafr Qadum to an olive grove he owns north of the village – a plot accessible only via a yellow gate the army installed. After soldiers opened the gate, Hikmat and the four workers began harvesting, but just a short while later, soldiers came to expel them and threatened to confiscate their equipment and detain them if they didn't comply. Hikmat took the workers back to the village, picked up his son Mahmoud, 14, and drove to a different plot of his in the area, close to Beit Lid and the al-Juneidi factory, where some of his relatives were already harvesting.

He arrived there at around 9:30 A.M., and soon after, dozens of settlers armed with sticks and slingshots – many of whom were masked – started to approach them. The family decided to distance themselves and move to a safer place, closer to the factory.

Most of them went on foot through the grove, but Hikmat returned to his truck, which he had left at the entrance. Before he managed to drive away, three vehicles arrived and blocked his way, and between nine and eleven settlers armed with sticks and stones got out. They attacked Hikmat while he was still in the car, hit his head and limbs, dragged him out of his vehicle, kept hitting him on the ground, and burned the seats of his car. After they left, Hikmat managed to crawl back to the car, put out the flames with his hands, and collapse inside.

When Hikmat’s family realized that he wasn’t at the factory, they turned back in the direction of the grove and found him bleeding in his truck, severely injured and only partially conscious. They drove him in his own vehicle to a nearby point where an ambulance from the Beit Lid Council was parked. The ambulance evacuated him to al-Israa Hospital in Tulkarm, but after he was diagnosed with life-threatening injuries there, Hikmat was transferred to the a-Najah University Hospital in Nablus where he was admitted to the intensive care unit. He had a head injury with multiple depressed skull fractures, rib fractures and lung contusions, as well as fractures in his arms and legs. He underwent surgery on his head and his fractured arm, and was placed in a medically induced coma for 14 days. He was discharged home after 22 days of hospitalization, with a condition requiring bed rest and recovery; he continues to have difficulty moving and requires ongoing medical treatment and follow-ups.

Abdulkarim Sadi collected testimonies about the incident from Hikmat Shteiwi and two of his family members:

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On 1 December 2025, Hikmat Mahmoud Abdulkader Shteiwi, 51, a father of five, recounted:

On Tuesday morning, 28 October 2025, I drove in my Ford truck with four workers from Kafr Qadum to a six-dunam plot of land my family owns, north of the village. We can only reach this plot when soldiers open the yellow gate that the army set up a few months ago on the road that leads to our land. When we got to the gate, at around 7:30 A.M., there were already about ten vehicles of other farmers waiting to enter their lands, but the soldiers, who were supposed to open the gate at 7:30 A.M., didn’t arrive until more than an hour later.

After they opened the gate, we went to our plot, got ready and started harvesting. Right then, a military jeep with four soldiers approached us and one of them asked me what I was doing there. I told him that I was harvesting olives on my land, and that being in this area doesn’t require a permit or coordination, but the soldier ignored what I was saying and ordered us to leave the plot immediately. He threatened to take our belongings and equipment, and detain us. So as to not cause my workers problems, we had to obey the orders and return to the village. I took the workers home and drove quickly to my own house. I picked up my fourteen-year-old son, Mahmoud, and went to a different plot we also own, in an area called a-Dawali, which we access through agricultural roads that belong to the residents of Beit Lid. My brothers and other relatives were already harvesting there.

When I reached the area, I parked my car at the entrance to our land and walked with my son to the area where my family was. There were approximately 25 or 30 people there, clustered together because they saw big groups of settlers moving around between the olive groves on the opposite slope. At some point, the settlers started getting closer to where we were.

To prevent having trouble with them, I went back to my truck that was parked at the entrance to our plot while my family members dispersed between the groves. I sat down in my car and then three vehicles – two white and one red – blocked my way. Between nine and eleven settlers dressed in black, some of whom were masked, got out and attacked me with sticks and stones. They hit me on the head and on my whole body, dragged me out of the car and threw me to the ground. I saw them ripping the seats of my car and trying to light them on fire. They​​ hit me for about 15 minutes and then left, and I crawled back into the car and put the flames out with my hands.

Then, my son, Mahmoud, ​​my brother Bashar, and other family members came and drove me in my car to the Beit Lid Council’s ambulance, which was parked next to the al-Juneidi factory. From there, I was taken to al-Israa Hospital in Tulkarm while only partially conscious, and later on I was transferred to a-Najah Hospital in Nablus due to the severity of my injuries: a cerebral hemorrhage, fractures in my skull, ribs, arms and legs, and other critical wounds. I spent 14 days in a coma in the ICU, and only after 22 days I was discharged home, bedridden and in need of full assistance with mobility and ongoing medical care.

Bashar Shteiwi, 33, Hikmat’s brother, recounted on 1 December 2025:

On Tuesday, 28 October 2025, I went to our plots in northern Kafr Qadum, next to the land that belongs to Beit Lid. I drove to the area south of the al-Juneidi offices, parked there, and continued on foot through the olive groves until I reached our land. When I got there, at around 9:30 A.M., I met my relatives who had already started harvesting. When we saw big groups of settlers in the groves on the slopes across from us, everyone stopped harvesting and stood together. We stayed like that to see what they would do and if they’d get any closer.

At that same time, my brother Hikmat and his ​​youngest son arrived. At around 10:30 A.M., we noticed that the settlers were starting to get closer. We estimate that there were between 70 to 100 of them. At that moment we decided to all leave the area and move somewhere safer, next to the al-Juneidi offices. My brother, Hikmat, who had come in an ​​offroad vehicle, went back to his car, and I walked through the groves together with my nephew Mahmoud and other family members.

When we arrived at the road next to al-Juneidi, we noticed that my brother wasn’t arriving in his car like we expected. We worried that something had happened to him. Mahmoud and I ran back towards where his car was supposed to be parked and other relatives followed us. When I reached his car I was shocked. I saw him lying in it, his head and face covered in blood, and he appeared to be in a really terrible state. He couldn’t speak or move. We drove him in his vehicle to the road where a Beit Lid ambulance was stationed. From there he was evacuated to al-Israa Hospital in Tulkarm. He arrived there unconscious, and after preliminary testing, they moved him to a-Najah University Hospital in Nablus because of the severity of his wounds.

​​Wissam Shteiwi, 41, a father of three, recounted on 30 October 2025:

On Tuesday, 28 October 2025, at around 8:00 A.M., I went with about 20 family members to our plots that sit north of Kfar Qadum, in the a-Dawali area, to harvest olives. About two weeks earlier, settlers set up an outpost next to this area, in Area B, and the army had taken it apart a day earlier, on 27 October 2025.

At around 10:00 or 10:30 A.M., we saw dozens of settlers – the majority of whom were armed with sticks and slingshots, and masked – arriving in the area and attacking harvesters. A group of settlers approached me, and one of them threw a piece of iron at me. I started running away but fell on a small slope and then started feeling a lot of pain in my right knee. Even with the injury I kept running to get away from the danger and violence of the settlers.

When the settlers arrived, one of my relatives, Hikmat Shteiwi, who had left his car at the entrance to our land, went to move his car and distance it and himself from the danger. Later on, I found out he was cruelly attacked by settlers while sitting in his car, and that he’s still hospitalized in the ICU in a critical state

The settlers’ attack prevented farmers from harvesting our olives, even though we were in Area B and didn’t need to coordinate our being there. My relatives who went back the next day to harvest told me that there were dozens of soldiers and border police there to prevent another settler attack.