Israeli settlers attack Palestinian girl, steal family's 90 sheep

Israeli settlers stole 90 sheep from a Palestinian family on Monday after attacking a girl guarding them, according to reports.

The incident took place near Ein Al-Auja, an area in the occupied West Bank near Jericho city.

A Palestinian girl had been grazing the sheep when she was attacked by settlers who then made off with the flock, lawyer Mahmoud Ghawanmeh was cited as saying by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The attack took place while the girl's father was elsewhere, according to Ghawanmeh.

Some half a million Israelis now live in about 130 settlements across the West Bank, a region home to nearly 2.5 million Palestinians. The settlements breach international law.

The sheep theft comes amid alarming levels of violence carried out by Israeli soldiers and settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Last week, Israeli settlers attacked a group of hikers not far from where Monday's incident took place, using tear gas and batons and inflicting broken bones and facial burns.

Videos on social media showed the settlers swinging wildly at the hikers, screaming in Hebrew and Arabic, saying: "I'm going to break your hands – I'm going to break your heads."

None of the walkers responded with violence, despite the repeated attacks.

There was no suggestion the two incidents were linked.

There have been 14 Palestinians killed in the West Bank since the start of the year, the majority shot dead by Israeli forces, according to an AFP tally.

Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 2022, according to figures by the Israeli rights group B'Tselem, making it the deadliest year since 2004.

Agencies contributed to this report.