Israeli settlers in 'sheep raid' on West Bank Palestinian Bedouin homes

Israeli settlers attacked  a group of Palestinian Bedouins near Jericho in the eastern West Bank on Sunday, firing gunshots to intimidate them and stealing sheep, according to a NGO.

It was the second consecutive day of attacks on Palestinians, as Israeli settlers stormed the Ras Ein al-Auja area in the north of Jericho, the Al-Baydar Organization for Defending Rights of Bedouins said, searching houses and livestock pens before stealing 10 sheep.

"A group of settlers again raided the gathering in Ras Al-Ain, searched houses and livestock pens, and took about 10 sheep," Hassan Mleihat, the organisation official, told Anadolu, adding that the settlers had "assaulted residents and fired gunshots".

Israeli settlers had attacked homes and livestock pens in Ein Al-Auja, home to around 1,000 citizens from Bedouin Palestinian families, on Saturday.

Earlier this month, the UN human rights chief warned that Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem were suffering a drastically worsening human rights environment, in part due to frequent violent raids by settlers and Israeli soldiers.

"The situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is dramatically deteriorating," Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the opening session of the UN Human Rights Council on 18 June.

Israeli settlers, often armed, routinely assault, harass, and sometimes kill local Palestinians with a huge increase in settler attacks since 7 October and whole Palestinian villages emptied due to the attacks.

The violence has reached such a level that the US, UK, and EU states have barred entry to some settler leaders, while Israel has gone ahead with the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.