Sinjil, Ramallah District: Israeli settlers building an outpost on town land attacked residents and burned homes and vehicles; one resident died of a heart attack after inhaling smoke

On 21 April 2025, settlers set up an outpost on a hill on land belonging to the town of Sinjil in Ramallah District. When town residents went to the area to drive them out, the settlers attacked them with stones and pushed them back towards the town. One settler fired shots at a group of residents without hitting anyone. The settlers chased the residents towards the town, burned a Bedouin tent compound to the ground, stole sheep from it, and set fire to a farming shed and to other property in the town’s fields.

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One of the residents the settler fired at was Wael Ghafri, 48. After the shooting, Ghafri confronted soldiers who were attacking the residents, and one of them pushed him with a rifle butt. After the settlers withdrew, Ghafri went into his family’s burning shed to assess the damage, and apparently suffered a smoke inhalation injury. He had a heart attack and died in the hospital later that day.

The sequence of events:

Early on Monday morning, 21 April 2025, a group of settlers climbed a hill known as Jabal a-Tal, on Sinjil town land that lies between the town and the town of al-Mazra’ah a-Sharqiyah in Ramallah District. The land at the top of the hill is owned by a Sinjil resident, and the area is defined as Area B under the Oslo Accords.

Around 8:00 A.M., Mu’taz Tawafshah, head of the Sinjil town council, alerted the Palestinian DCO, the Red Cross, and other official bodies that settlers were setting up the outpost. At around 9:30 A.M., Wael Ghafri and his cousin ‘Ayed Ghafri (44) arrived and filmed the settlers from about 500 meters away. At around 11:00 A.M., when Tawafshah received no response and no military forces arrived, about 20 Sinjil residents gathered at the foot of the hill taken over by the settlers and started climbing up. The settlers threw stones at them from the hilltop.

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At that point, about 80 more settlers came from the direction of Route 60 and more town residents arrived, and mutual stone-throwing ensued. As the Palestinians were outnumbered and the settlers held a topographical advantage, some residents retreated towards the town. Five of them, including Wael Ghafri, tried to climb the hill from the other side, but settlers blocked their path, and one of them pulled out a handgun or short rifle and fired several shots at them. No one was hurt, and the five fled. By then, all the residents had gone back towards the town. Around noon, the settlers who were chasing them reached farming structures close to the town. They started vandalizing and torching a shed belonging to Muhammad Ghafri, Wael’s brother.

On their way, the settlers passed through a cluster of tents belonging to a family that moved to the area after settler attacks forced them out of the Wadi a-Siq community in October 2023. The settlers attacked the father, Muhammad ‘Ara’rah (68), and pepper-sprayed him in the face. His wife and children had already been evacuated from the area by a friend. ‘Ara’rah managed to escape in his car and saw from a distance that the tent compound was on fire. The settlers also stole some of the family’s sheep. Displaced yet again, the family is currently staying in the nearby village of Jiljilya.

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Soldiers arrived after the settlers had already vandalized and burned structures. Rather than removing and arresting them, the soldiers first attacked the Palestinian residents with tear gas canisters and stun grenades, driving them off their land towards the town. At that point, Wael Ghafri verbally confronted one of the soldiers, who pushed him with the butt of his rifle.

The settlers then withdrew. Some went back to the hill they had taken over, while others left the area. Only then could Wael Ghafri approach his brother’s torched shed, along with some other residents. Ghafri went into the shed to inspect the damage and began to feel unwell, apparently after inhaling smoke. His brother and son helped him get to an ambulance, which took him to a clinic in town and from there to a hospital in Ramallah, where he was pronounced dead.

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During the attack, the settlers vandalized and torched a farming shed, set three cars on fire (one of them ‘Ar’arah’s), cut down 15 fruit trees and destroyed 10 water tanks and other equipment.

That evening, the military ordered the settlers to move the outpost to the eastern side of the hill, which is defined as Area C.

The next day, 22 April, a handful of settlers took turns staying at the outpost. On 23 April, residents of Sinjil noticed a larger number of settlers there and tried to climb the hill. The settlers left and then returned with reinforcements. They chased the residents back towards the town, attacking two of them and burning down one resident’s car, a farming shed with everything inside it, and five almond trees. They vandalized another farming shed and some solar panels. Soldiers who arrived fired tear gas canisters at the fleeing residents, some of whom suffered from gas inhalation. At that point, the residents retreated into the town and the settlers left the area.

B’Tselem field researcher Mohammad Romaneh collected testimonies from some of the residents:

Muhammad ‘Ara’rah (68), a father of 11, said in his testimony:

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Until 7 October 2023, we lived in the Bedouin community of Wadi a-Siq east of the village of Rammun. We would switch between staying there and in the Bedouin community of al-’Ar’arah in the town of Jaba’. After 7 October 2023, we suffered from settler attacks and had to leave Wadi a-Siq. We moved to the outskirts of the village of Rammun. For four months, we alternated between staying there and on land belonging to the village of al-Mazra’ah a-Sharqiyah, south of the town of Sinjil. Now, my wife and I, our son Radi (30), his wife, and their three children live permanently in an area called al-Baten, on land that belongs to a friend of mine from al-Mazra’ah a-Sharqiyah. We had three tents with iron frames, some tin sheets, and some tarps. We lived in two of the tents and kept the flock in the third. We own about 100 heads of sheep.

Early morning on Monday, 21 April 2025, my son Radi said he’d seen several settlers going up to Jabal a-Tal, about a kilometer away from our tents. At around 9:00 A.M., I noticed about 20 settlers at the top of the hill. They set up a tent there. Radi went out to graze the sheep west of our tents, and I stayed with the rest of the family.

At about 10:00 A.M., my friend from al-Mazra’ah a-Sharqiyah, on whose land we live, arrived by car. He has a vineyard about 20-30 meters west of the tents. He checked on the vineyard and then came to sit with me by the tents and watch what was happening.

Around noon, people from Sinjil started clashing with the settlers on the hill and they threw stones at each other, after some residents tried to climb the hill. From the tents, I could see a lot of settlers there. They chased the residents, threw stones at them, and pushed them back toward the town. A few minutes later, four young guys from Sinjil came to our tents. They stopped long enough to tell me to take the women and children somewhere safe because the settlers were chasing them, and then they left.

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I moved my car to the vineyard and hid it among the vines. I asked the landowner to drive my wife, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren to a safe place. He took them to Sinjil. I stayed near the tents, fearing the settlers would come and damage our property. About ten minutes later, four masked settlers appeared. One of them, a large-built man, asked me what I was doing there. I told him I lived there with my family. He immediately started pushing me and tried to knock me down, but he couldn’t. Another settler hit me from behind, and another threw a stone that hit me in the face. I started bleeding. One of them also pepper-sprayed me in the face.

My face was burning and I had trouble seeing, but I ran toward the car I parked among the vines. I got in and drove to Beir a-Tal Street, which is about 100 meters from the tents, and then continued north toward Sinjil. As I approached Beir a-Tal, I was surprised to see settlers there as well. I quickly turned the car around, just as settlers threw a stone at it, hitting the back but causing no serious damage. I managed to get away.

On the way to Sinjil, I saw smoke coming from the area of my tents and figured the settlers must have set them on fire. I continued driving to the clinic in Sinjil, where they treated me and stopped the bleeding from my face. I called my friend, who said he’d taken my family to the village of Jiljilya, so I drove there.

Mu’taz ‘Abd a-Rahman ‘Abd al-Jaber Tawafshah, 42, head of the Sinjil town council, said in his testimony:

After I found out about the settlers’ invasion, I reported it to the Palestinian DCO around 8:00 A.M. I also posted about it on social media and WhatsApp groups. Around 11:00 A.M., I went out with residents of the town to a lookout point over Khirbet a-Tal.

We got to within 1.5 kilometers of the tent set up by the settlers. There were about 10 of us, including Wael Ghafri.

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At 11:20 A.M., we reached the bottom of the hill the settlers were on and tried to climb up. When we were about 20 meters from them, they started throwing stones at us. There were about 20 settlers there, all masked. The stone-throwing lasted about 15–20 minutes. They were higher up, so they were able to attack us easily and we couldn’t repel them.

At 11:40 A.M., we stopped trying to climb the hill and were forced to go back to the area south of the town. When we got there, we suddenly saw large groups of settlers walking towards us from the direction of Route 60. Some went up the hill and others started chasing town residents.

By 11:50 A.M., there were already around 100 settlers on the land south of the town and they were clashing with the residents, including mutual stone-throwing. The residents were forced to go back further, which allowed the settlers to advance deeper into the area. I saw one of the settlers pull out a handgun or a short rifle and fire at the residents, including Wael Ghafri. No one was hurt, and Wael told me later: “I was almost killed by the settler’s shooting, but my life was given back to me.” The settler was about 50-60 meters away from him.

The settlers managed to push us off the land south of the town, and some of them kept chasing us and throwing stones. Some of the settlers reached the farming sheds in the Khirbet a-Tal area, and started vandalizing and destroying the shed that belongs to Wael Ghafri’s brother. They set it on fire. It was already around noon. Only then did four army vehicles drive up, from the area south of the town. They stopped by the southern houses in the town, while the settlers continued setting fires and destroying property.

The soldiers got out of the vehicles and immediately began pushing the residents back with stun grenades and tear gas canisters, forcing them to retreat. They also arrested one of the young men. Wael shouted at a soldier: “We’re not the problem. Go arrest the settlers who are burning our homes and vandalizing our land.” The soldier pushed him and shouted at him, but Wael stayed put. I saw that Wael was very angry and exhausted, so I went over to him and asked him to sit down and rest.

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Then the soldiers pushed the residents even further away. Two army vehicles drove toward the open area, and the other two stayed put to block residents from passing. Then the settlers started going back to the hill with the outpost. I saw some of them stealing sheep from the tents of a Bedouin family after they set their tents on fire. I filmed it on my phone.

At around 12:30 P.M., I asked the army to let firefighters come and put out the fires. At first, the soldiers wouldn’t let them through, but eventually they did.

At 1:00 P.M., I was standing with a fire truck at the edge of a dirt road leading to the shed that belongs to Wael Ghafri’s brother, which the settlers torched. They set fire to tires that Wael’s brother left there a long time ago. Meanwhile, an ambulance arrived and dropped off ‘Ayed Ghafri, a volunteer paramedic. The ambulance left, and I asked ‘Ayed to go over to the structures that were set on fire with the firefighters. At that moment, I saw Wael, his son Bassem, and his brother Thaer go over to their shed. Wael told me he was feeling better and asked me to call the local volunteer team to send help. I sent them a message, and they arrived within ten minutes.

I also asked the ambulance to come back because I was worried about Wael’s condition. It arrived in less than five minutes. Meanwhile, Wael went towards the burned shed. A few minutes later, I saw his brother and son helping him get to the ambulance. I took a stretcher from the ambulance and went over to Wael with the ambulance driver, but he refused to lie on it and kept on walking towards the ambulance. When he got to it, he leaned against it and said: “The pain is worse.” The paramedic gave him oxygen and put him in the ambulance, and I got in with him. We went to the medical center in town.

I left Wael at the clinic and went back to monitor what was happening. We drove to the Bedouin tents. When we arrived, the army was still there, and the settlers had gone back to the hill. The residents were inspecting the damage. About half an hour later, I got a message from a resident that Wael’s condition was worse and he was in the government hospital in Ramallah.

At 2:20 P.M., Border Police officers arrived in 12 military vehicles and stopped on the southern side of the town. They stayed there for about 20 minutes. At 2:40 P.M., some of them went up the hill and took down the tent the settlers set up, but the settlers stayed there.

Ahmad Tawafshah, 36, single, a resident of Sinjil, said in his testimony:

When the people from the town started going back towards the field, we climbed down from the hill where the settlers were. The settlers were masked, and some of them were holding wooden sticks or slingshots.

At 11:45 A.M., we went up to the al-Baten area, opposite Jabal a-Tal. The settlers chased us and threw stones at us. Wael couldn’t reach the al-Baten area, which is high up, and got stuck below at the foot of Jabal a-Tal. We turned back so the settlers wouldn’t get to him. When the settlers got within 15 meters of him, we started throwing stones at them to protect him.

At that moment, a settler with a red bag came down from Jabal a-Tal. He was masked and holding a rifle. When he was about 80 meters away from Wael, he pointed the rifle at us and shouted in Arabic: “Get out of here.” Then he fired three shots at Wael, who was about 10 meters below me. Then he fired a shot in my direction, but it didn’t hit anyone, and then another shot at a man who was above me. I felt the bullet go over my head. I was very scared and ran away. Meanwhile, the clashes in the field between residents of the town and the settlers intensified, and then the armed settler advanced into the field and Wael managed to leave the scene.

The settlers kept chasing us, and we ran towards the Beir a-Tal area and reached the tent compound of the Bedouin family living there. We stopped and advised the father to evacuate the women and children because the settlers were chasing us. While we were there, we saw columns of smoke rising from the bottom of the al-Baten area, and then we kept running towards Beir a-Tal. When the settlers who were chasing us reached the Bedouin family’s tent compound. Only the father, Abu Naif (Muhammad ‘Ara’rah), was there. Four or five settlers attacked him and burned a vehicle that was there. I saw it from a distance of 100–150 meters. Abu Naif ran away from them, and then they burned his tents and stole some of his sheep.

‘Ayed Ghafri, 44, single, a volunteer paramedic in the town of Sinjil, said in his testimony:

Around noon, two Israeli military vehicles arrived where the people from the town were, followed by two more vehicles. Soldiers got out and began pushing away the residents, including Wael Ghafri. They pointed their guns at them, pushed them, and threw stun grenades and tear gas canisters to force them to retreat and prevent them from returning to where the settlers were. That’s when I noticed a man who seemed injured. I went towards him to give first aid, but the soldiers stopped me at gunpoint. I saw them beating him and then arresting him.

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While the army was pushing back the residents, I saw several settlers vandalizing the farming shed belonging to Wael Ghafri’s brother, Muhammad. They smash the windows and then set the shed on fire. Columns of smoke rose from it. Then they set fire to another building under construction belonging to a resident of al-Mazra’ah a-Sharqiyah, and then columns of smoke also came from the tent compound of a Bedouin family.

After the settlers set fire to those structures, the military vehicles began driving towards the settlers, which allowed me to get closer to Wael. He could see his family’s shed burning down before his eyes, and he was exhausted. He put his hand on his chest.

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I left Wael and drove with the ambulance driver to the area overlooking the settlers. When we arrived, we saw soldiers were already there and the settlers were heading towards the tent had set up on Jabal a-Tal. We went with the ambulance to the dirt road that leads to the torched structures. The ambulance left and I stayed there. I went over to the head of the council, who was there. He asked me to go to the fire sites with the firefighters. I directed the firefighters to one of the burning structures and they started putting out the fire. I continued to the farming shed that belongs to Wael Ghafri’s family, together with another man and a volunteer firefighter.

When we got to the shed, the fire was still burning inside. Wael’s son, Bassem, arrived first and told me there was a gas cylinder inside. I tried to go in to get it out, and when I couldn’t, Bassem went in and took it out. After a few minutes, Wael arrived with his brother Thaer. Wael went inside and then started screaming that he couldn’t breathe. We got him out and sat him on a chair in front of the shed. We called the ambulance, but it only reached the edge of the dirt road leading to the building, because the road was blocked with tires the settlers set on fire. We had to take Wael on foot to the ambulance, and then he was evacuated to the clinic. I stayed behind and walked towards the Bedouin tents because I heard there was someone injured there.

When I arrived, I realized that the injured man was no longer there. The three tents and a vehicle that was there burned down completely. I also saw the carcass of a small lamb on the ground. The rest of the sheep were stolen by the settlers before the army arrived and they left.

I called the ambulance driver to see how Wael was doing, and he told me Wael was worse and was on his way to the hospital in Ramallah.

I took a taxi to Ramallah. On the way, I called some town residents who were at the hospital, and they told me that Wael was being taken in for a catheterization procedure. After a few minutes, while I was still on the road, I got a call from a friend who told me that Wael had passed away.

Wael was my cousin and also a close friend. We always worked together when the town was attacked by settler gangs.

Two residents of Sinjil gave B’Tselem field researcher Mohammad Romaneh testimonies about the settler attack two days later, on 23 April 2025:

R.S., 54, a father of six and a farmer, said in his testimony:

 

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On Wednesday, 23 April 2025, at around 4:00 P.M., while I was working on farmland east of the town, I heard the muezzin calling from the town’s mosques, urging residents to go to the Jabal al-Baten area south of the town to fend off a settler attack. At the same time, people began posting about settler attacks in the area on the town’s WhatsApp group.

I immediately set out in my car with my 19-year-old son, A. After about a 10-minute drive, we reached the southern entrance to the town, where I saw about 50-60 residents gathered. I pulled over by the side of the road, and the two of us got out to join them in fighting off the attack. But as soon as we got out of the car, I saw the residents running north toward the town’s houses. I also noticed about 15 settlers running after them.

Most of the settlers were masked. Some were holding clubs, and others were throwing stones at the residents while chasing them. The settlers came within ten meters of us, and we started throwing stones back at them to fend them off, but it didn’t help and they continued to come towards us. A. managed to escape, but one of them came up to me and hit me in the face with a club. Blood came gushing out of my face. I think the club had spikes on it, which is why the injury was so severe.

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At that moment, all I cared about was stopping him from hitting me in the face again. I tried to grab the club, and in the meantime, I was hit by stones thrown by settlers standing behind him. One of them hit me in the face. I fought with him with my hands for a few minutes.

Then guys from the town came towards us, and when they were 20–30 meters away, the settlers began to retreat. A. came over and helped me up. He took me back to the car, which was parked about 50 meters away.

When we reached the paved road, I saw that my clothes were soaked in blood. A town resident drove me to the local clinic in his car, and A. drove our car. At the clinic, it turned out my nose was broken, and the doctors put 12 stitches in my head.

I later found out that after the settlers withdrew, they went to a farmland in the Jabal al-Baten area and set fire to several farming structures as well as two cars. Then the army arrived—a whole hour after the attack began—and they moved off towards Jabal a-Tal.

 

S.A., 37, a father of three and a farmer, said:

On Wednesday, 23 April 2025, at around 2:00 P.M., I left my house in the center of town on a tractor and drove to a 35-dunam field I cultivate in the Sahel a-Tal area, south of town, where I grow wheat and faqus. When I arrived, I saw an Israeli Border Police vehicle surrounded by officers about 20 meters from the plot, but I began working anyway.

About an hour later, one of the officers approached me, shouting, and demanded that I leave. He said the area was dangerous because of the settler attack two days earlier, on 21 April, and threatened to fire tear gas at me if I didn’t leave. I had no choice but to leave. The officers left as soon as I did.

Around 4:00 P.M., I heard the muezzin calling for residents to come to the Jabal al-Baten area south of town to fend off a settler attack. The lands on this hill belong to al-Mazra’ah a-Sharqiyah and Sinjil. I drove there in my car, thinking the attack was in the area where I had worked earlier, but when I approached the a-Sahel area, I didn’t see any settlers, so I kept driving south toward Jabal al-Baten.

Then, on the paved road leading to the farmland, I saw about 50 people running toward me from a distance of about 50-60 meters. I pulled over and walked toward them, thinking they were residents fleeing the attack, but as I got closer, I realized they were settlers by their clothing.

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I immediately ran back to the car, which was about 10 meters away, to get out of there. I opened the door, but I was so frightened I couldn’t find the key. In the meantime, three settlers reached the car. One of them tried to open the door. He wasn’t masked. He had blond hair with long sidelocks and was holding a wooden stick. I pushed him away with the door, got out of the car, and tried to run north toward the town, but after I went only about five meters, I felt a strong blow to my upper back.

I fell immediately. Meanwhile, young guys and other town residents began arriving and the settlers retreated a bit. One of the residents took me to the local clinic. I wasn’t fully conscious on the way.

I came to at the clinic, and the doctors said I’d suffered a strong blow that caused bruises on my back. They treated me and discharged me. I later found out from other residents that the settlers set fire to my car and to another one, as well as several farming structures in Jabal al-Baten. The army arrived only an hour after the attack began, and then they withdrew.

There was agricultural equipment worth about 10,000 NIS (~USD 2,820) in my car, and the car itself was worth about 14,000 NIS (~USD 3,950).