Israeli settlers 'poison, steal' Palestinian olive harvests

Israeli settlers have reportedly stolen harvests of Palestinian farmers as they were picking olives to mark the start of the harvesting season across the West Bank.

Israeli settlers stole olives from Palestinian land in the Qalqiliya village of Jit in the occupied West Bank.

The settlers were from the illegal Kedumim settlement. 

According to Palestinian Authority-run Wafa News Agency, landowners from Jit went to harvest their olives after they managed to get Israeli permits to access their own land.

When they arrived to tend to the harvested olives, they realised that a large amount of the fully grown trees were poisoned after being sprayed with toxic chemicals.

Olives were found spoiled, dry and unsafe to eat, they said.

A landowner said that he had also found sewage water being pumped from a settler's mobile home into his land.

Attacks on Palestinian farmers have been frequent over the past few weeks as the olive harvesting season begins. 

On Friday, settlers reportedly attacked a group of Palestinians as they picked olives in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

The settlers - from the illegal settlement of Maon, built close to Yatta town - attacked farmers while they were harvesting their olives in the Masafer Yatta area. 

One of the farmers was a woman and all of the workers suffered injuries.

On Thursday, a similar incident took place in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.