SAFA- Israeli forces opened fire on a shepherd in the Wadi al-Bayda area of Idhna, west of Hebron, on Tuesday, killing three sheep and injuring several others.

The incident is the latest in a series of reported attacks on Palestinian livestock involving Israeli forces and settlers across the occupied West Bank.

Similar incidents have been reported in recent weeks in the Jordan Valley, Masafer Yatta, and the Ramallah countryside.

Reported methods include direct gunfire at flocks, poisoning of pastures and water sources, and nighttime raids on livestock enclosures in which animals have been killed or stabbed.

Direct Attacks on Livestock

Palestinian shepherd Muhammad Bisharat told Safa News Agency that attacks on livestock were intended to force shepherding communities from their land.

“They don’t fire into the air to drive us away; they fire directly at the sheep with the intent to kill them,” Bisharat said.

“They slaughter our livestock right before our eyes for no reason,” he added.

Bisharat said the attacks were destroying “our only source of livelihood, forcing us to leave and abandon our land.”

Khaled Mar’i, a shepherd from the northern Jordan Valley, also described attacks on his flock that he attributed to settlers from nearby grazing outposts.

“The settlers come armed, either shooting the sheep immediately or poisoning the pastures and springs where the livestock drink,” he told Safa.

“Several of my animals have died from poisoning. The goal isn’t just to injure them; it’s to destroy everything that helps us stay on our land.”

Another shepherd, Abu Jihad Bisharat, said the attacks have become increasingly organized and target both residents and their livestock.

“The attacks are relentless. The settlers raid the enclosures at night or block our path while we’re grazing, killing the animals with weapons and knives,” he said.

He added that killing livestock “directly affects our lives and our children.”

A Tool of Displacement

Settlement affairs expert Salah Khawaja told Safa News Agency that attacks on livestock should be viewed as part of a broader pattern of pressure on Palestinian shepherding communities.

Khawaja described the shooting and poisoning of livestock as systematic practices involving Israeli forces and settlers.

He argued that the attacks are intended to undermine the Palestinian presence in rural areas, with the targeting of livestock serving as a means of pressuring shepherding communities to leave their land and facilitating settlement expansion in Area C of the occupied West Bank.

Khawaja said the reported escalation indicates that livestock has increasingly become a direct target as part of broader efforts to weaken the ability of Palestinian shepherds and farmers to remain on their land.