Khirbet al-Fakhit and Khirbet al-Halawah, Masafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills: Settlers attacked two villages, beat residents and stole a flock of sheep with help from soldiers who arrested women who tried to stop the theft

On Tuesday, 27 January 2026, at around 5:15 P.M., a settler with a flock of sheep approached the homes of Khirbet al-Halawah, one of the communities located in the area the military has declared Firing Zone 918. After a local resident began filming him on his cell phone, the settler struck him in the face, snatched the device from him and smashed it.

Following this, more residents arrived at the scene and confronted the settler, who backed away and called for reinforcements on his phone.

Shortly afterward, dozens of masked settlers armed with clubs and escorted by soldiers arrived at the scene, attacked the village and the neighboring village of al-Fakhit. They also broke into homes and livestock enclosures in the nearby villages of a-Taban and Jenbah, all of which are located in the area the military has declared Firing Zone 918.

The most serious assault took place in Khirbet al-Fakhit, where settlers beat Muhammad Abu Sabhah with clubs, causing severe injuries all over his body, including a skull fracture, and pepper-sprayed him. The settlers also assaulted his family members, broke his mother’s arm, hit his 15-year-old daughter on the head and pepper-sprayed his wife and daughters. They also vandalized his car.

Later that evening, when residents tried to prevent the settlers from stealing sheep from an enclosure in Khirbet al-Halawah, soldiers and settlers assaulted them and drove them away from the area. The settlers managed to take about 100 head of sheep out of the enclosure and lead them toward a nearby outpost. During the incident, residents were punched and assaulted with clubs and pepper spray.

The soldiers then arrested Widad Makhamreh, the daughter of the enclosure’s owner, who tried to stop the settlers from stealing sheep from her father’s enclosure, as well as another family member. The two women were held for many hours in harsh conditions in the cold, handcuffed, suffering from injuries and stinging eyes, without water or shelter. They were taken to the police station the next day, where Makhamreh was interrogated on suspicion of assault and incitement against soldiers. She was released shortly afterward.

The assault lasted several hours and resulted in injuries to several residents and extensive damage to property.

Muhammad Abu Sabhah, 49, a father of six, a resident of al-Fakhit, said in his testimony he gave on 21 January 2026:

 

I live with my wife Jamileh, our six children, and my mother Wadha, 73, in the village of al-Fakhit. I work as a farmer and shepherd, and I have about 150 head of sheep. The cost of raising them has risen sharply since the settlers took over the pastureland and water cisterns in the area.

Since the events of 7 October, settler attacks and raids on the villages in the area have increased, and they graze their sheep between the houses. The number of outposts and settlements has also increased, and five new outposts have been established about a kilometer away from our home.

In 2022, the occupation bulldozers demolished our home, which was made of tin, and since then, I have been living in a tent, and my wife and daughters live in a single tin room.

On Tuesday, 27 January 2026, at around 6:30 P.M., posts started coming in on social media about a settler attack on Khirbet al-Halawah near us. I was standing in my tent’s yard and following what was happening in the area. I saw Palestinian vehicles coming from the a-Tuwani area trying to reach Khirbet al-Halawah to help the residents there, but the settlers blocked the cars, and I saw them turning back. At that moment, I saw two cars approaching us. For a moment, I thought these were the Palestinian cars the settlers had blocked.

 

But, as soon as the cars reached our home, about seven settlers jumped out of them, holding clubs and pepper spray, and immediately pounced on me and started beating me brutally with clubs on my head and all over my body. I heard my wife and daughters screaming, until I passed out and was no longer aware of what was happening around me. I only woke up in the intensive care unit at al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron, writhing with pain in my head and all over my body.

It turned out from the X-rays and tests that I have a skull fracture and bruises all over my body. I also have partial paralysis in my right leg, and I understand from the doctors that it’s temporary and will pass with further treatment.

In the hospital, my brothers told me that my mother was also beaten and suffered fractures in her right arm and bruises to her head. She was treated at the government ‘Aliya Hospital in Hebron. Only later did I learn that my daughters and my wife had also been hurt by pepper spray, and that Nagham, my 15-year-old daughter, had been hit on the head by one of the settlers.

Today, we got a call from the Israeli police. They suggested we go file a complaint at the Israeli police station.

I don’t believe there’s any point in filing such a complaint, because this is not the first attack, and these attacks are usually carried out in front of soldiers and under their protection. My brother told me that the settlers also smashed all the windows of my car.

I’m still at al-Ahli Hospital, suffering from headaches, dizziness, difficulty speaking and walking, and severe pain in my right thigh.

Widad Makhamreh, 52, a mother of four, a resident of Khirbet al-Markez, recounted in her testimony she gave on 4 February 2026:

On 27 January 2026, at around 9:00 P.M., while I was sitting in my home, my 75-year-old father, who lives in the neighboring village of Khirbet al-Halawah, called me and told me that settlers were attacking them and trying to steal their sheep. He asked me to call the neighbors for help. I immediately set out toward Khirbet al-Halawah with another woman, and even before we got there, we saw dozens of soldiers and settlers surrounding the area.

We took an alternate route and when we managed to reach the place. I saw my brother M., 36, his wife F., 30, and my father holding the handle of the sheep enclosure gate to prevent the settlers from entering. I joined them and helped them block the settlers from getting into the enclosure. The soldiers and settlers attacked us, beat us with clubs and guns, and drove us away from the area.

The settlers, under the soldiers’ protection, began taking the sheep out of the enclosure, about 100 head of sheep, and led them toward the outpost. I walked after them, trying to get the sheep back, and then the soldiers attacked me, and a female soldier grabbed my hands and twisted them back. At that moment, a settler holding a pepper spray canister came over to me. The soldier hunched and pushed my head forward so the gas wouldn’t hit her, and the settler sprayed it in my face and then punched me hard in the mouth, and it started bleeding. I started screaming and writhing in pain. I felt a strong stinging in my eyes and had trouble seeing. I managed to wriggle free of the soldier and ran again after the flock, and then the soldier grabbed me again and two settlers beat me with clubs on the head, my arms and all over my body. The soldier kept holding me, and other soldiers helped her, until the settlers reached the outpost with the sheep. When the flock got there, the soldiers let go of me, and I went home, screaming from the pain. I asked my daughter-in-law to pour water on my face to ease the pain and stinging in my eyes.

My clothes were soaked from the water they poured on my head and face, but before I had time to change, about seven soldiers burst into the tent and said they had come to arrest me. A female soldier tied my hands in front of me, and they led me on foot to a place near the village, where they had me sit on the ground next to the military jeeps. I hurt all over, and my eyes and face were stinging. It was a very cold day, and I was shivering because of my wet clothes. I stayed there for about two hours, and in the meantime, the soldiers brought my sister-in-law, F., handcuffed and blindfolded. She yelled at the soldiers, demanded they release her and explained that she had a seven-month-old baby girl who couldn’t go long without breastfeeding. The soldiers swore at her and ordered her to be quiet.

The soldiers put F. and me into a military jeep that drove us to the gate of a military base. They took us out of the jeep about 200 meters from the base gate and led us on foot while swearing at us, and I was still shaking from the cold. F. was groaning with back pain, still blindfolded. I was also suffering from pain and stinging in my face and had trouble seeing. The soldiers sat us down on the ground by the base gate, kept swearing at us and accusing us of terrorism, claiming we were “terrorists, Hamas.”

The weather was freezing cold, and my clothes were still wet. I asked them for a blanket or some kind of cover to keep me warm, but they answered with curses and refused to even give us water to drink.

We kept asking to go to the bathroom, and they made fun of us: they led us three times toward the toilets and, when we reached the door, they laughed at us, said “No, no, no,” and took us back to where we were sitting without letting us go in. It was very humiliating. We stayed like that all night and until early afternoon the next day. The blood almost froze in our veins from the intense cold, and I had cramps in my limbs and all over my body.

The next day, at around 12:00 P.M., they took us in a military jeep to the police station in Arad, but they refused to admit us there, so they transferred us to the police station in Kiryat Arba. They took us out in the yard, replaced the zip ties with metal handcuffs and shackled our legs as well, then sat us on metal chairs in the hallway. After about an hour, they took me into an interrogation room where an interrogator who spoke Hebrew was sitting with another police officer who translated into Arabic. The interrogator claimed that I had assaulted soldiers and incited against them. I denied the accusations and said that the soldiers were the ones who helped the settlers steal our sheep and that they attacked us together with the settlers.

After about 20 minutes of questioning, another police officer took me to another room, removed the handcuffs, took my photo and fingerprints, then led me to the police station gate and released me.