Israel relentlessly attacks village in Ramallah

Not a day goes by when Al-Mughayyir is not violently attacked- either by settlers or the Israel occupation army.

The village, which has a population of around 4000, is in the occupied West Bank, North East of Ramallah. Problems began in 2018, when the first settlement was built, just 300m to the North of al Mughayyir.

Israel work with settlers to terrorise the village

Marzouk Abu Naim, is on the village council. He tells the Canary:

The first thing they did was cut the trees, burn the land, and steal livestock. They assaulted farmers and stopped them going to their land.

There are now nine settlements to the North, East, and South of the village. The violence directed at the community has increased exponentially, and so to has the land theft. Not long ago, Al Mughayyir had 43,000 dunums, or 4300 hectares of land, but not any more.

Abu Naim told me:

Since 7 October, 2023 we only have 1000 dunums of land. Settlers, helped by the army, have taken it all. They hit and shoot at people, and force them from their land and their homes, and they steal everything. They are with the army all the time. The army and the settlers are the same thing, except for the jacket. They all have guns.

There used to be two routes into the village. But the army has now closed the gates to the Western village entrance, and made the other one into a checkpoint. Sometimes this is closed, so people are unable to go in or out of al Mughayyir.

Multiple Palestinian young men have been killed by the Israeli occupation during the raids on the village

In January 2019,  a large number of settlers entered the village and shot at people. A 15 year old boy was killed. According to Abu Naim, five Palestinians are still suffering long term injuries from this attack, and regularly need to be treated in hospital.

In April 2024, around 1000 settlers stormed the village, cut down trees and destroyed Palestinian homes. While the settlers terrorised al Mughayyir,  the army closed the gates of the village and prevented anyone from leaving. A 23 year old young man was killed, and more than 75 people were injured. Homes were raided, 200 sheep were stolen, and scores of cars belonging to villagers were vandalised.

In August 2025, when the Canary last spoke with Abu Naim, Israel prevented Palestinians from leaving or entering the village, for three days. They killed an 18 year old Palestinian, and destroyed 10,000 olive trees.

Abu Naim says:

When they killed the last person, they closed the village while the funeral was going on and started shooting at people in their cars. And the settlers threw stones. They want us to leave our village. They want the village, but without the Palestinians. They start with the trees, with the sheep, now they will end  our income. Our life here has stopped. We cannot do anything. Everyone is so worried. We don’t know what will happen, but we will stay here.

No one from al Mughayyir  is spared from the occupation’s violence

The people of al Mughayyir are costantly harrassed, intimidated and physically abused. And the situation has escalated since 7 October. Israeli occupation forces (IOF) come into the village almost every nght, entering homes, destroying their contents, and directing violence towards residents. They even arrest children.

Then the settlers arrive in the daytime to continue terrorising the community.

One villager, who wished to remain anonymous, for fear of retribution, tells us about a recent raid in al Mughayyir, where the IOF smashed their way into his home. He says that two military vehicles entered the village, and blocked all access into and out of al Mughayyir. The vehicles were there for around two hours, ahead of the arrival of around 100 Israeli occupation soldiers.

He told me:

Residents were unaware of where these soldiers had come from. They had entered al Mughayyir on foot, without being detected. During the raid, soldiers played music, fired sound bombs and tear gas, leading to multiple cases of suffocation. A tear gas canister landed in the home of an older woman, and she had to be transferred to the hospital. They also fired live ammunition. The soldiers moved through the village like thieves, spreading across several streets and neighbourhoods. They scared the children, stole money, stormed houses, and did everything possible to intimidate the families. They raided at least 35 houses, including the homes of prisoners. The purpose of this was to threaten the prisoners wives, who are alone, and to scare the prisoner’s children. The soldiers also stole money from the houses. In one case they stole 2000 NIS (£500) from a man’s home, and in another they took 1500 NIS. They smashed everything inside my house, threw the contents of the fridge onto the floor, and destroyed everything that was planted. They kept shouting: “Where’s the money? Where’s the money?”.”

“They target us because we are Palestinian”

This resident told us the raid lasted until about 6am, when the military withdrew to the Eastern part of al Mughayyir.

He says:

We always say it, and keep saying it- they target us because we are Palestinian. We are the voice of truth, and the rightful owners of this land.

Another resident of al Mughayyir, who also wishes to remain anonymous, tells us about a raid on the village some time ago. He was only a child when the IOF stormed his home and arrested him, at 1am. He says he was taken to the Israel occupation’s army camp, called Jebbit, close to al Mughayyir, and then transferred to another army camp in the morning.

It was not a normal arrest. It was barbaric- full of insults and severe beatings. When I arrived at the camp, they handcuffed and blindfolded me. At sunrise they transferred me to another camp, where I was interrogated for 22 days. After my six months detention, I was sentenced to one year in actual prison.

During his transfer between prisons, this resident says the occupation severely beat him. And, throughout his time in jail, he had no means of communication with his family whatsoever. “Israel” is the only country in the world to prosecute children in military courts, although only Palestinian children, of course. And conviction is inevitable.

He told me:

I am a resident of the Ramallah area, but was released at Hebron Gate. This is the occupation policy, to make families worry about their children, and take longer to bring them to their homes. That’s my story, but there’s so much suffering, and stories we can’t tell. So much pain in our hearts for our brothers and children who are in jail. But we will stay. We are here in our land, and won’t leave. They won’t intimidate us. This land will remain ours.

While attention is diverted elsewhere, the Israeli occupation acts with impunity and consolidates its control over Palestinians

While the international community is focused on the genocide in Gaza, Israel is still getting away with serious human rights violations, not only in al Mughayyir but throughout the occupied West Bank.

War crimes, and crimes against humanity are being committed by settlers and the IOF on a daily basis. They blatantly abuse, displace and kill Palestinians, and do not even feel they need to hide their crimes. They know the world will remain silent, and the time is right for them to ethnically cleanse occupied Palestine.

The international community needs to act urgently for justice and peace in the territory. And it must uphold the ruling of the International Court of Justice which ruled, in 2024, that ‘Israel’s’ occupation of Palestine is illegal, and must be stopped “as rapidly as possible.”

Featured images and videos via author