Moments before Shabbat, dozens of Border Police and IDF forces raided two homesteads in Samaria and the Hebron Hills, evicted the residents by force, arrested some of them, and confiscated the homestead's equipment.
In the Hebron Hills, Israeli forces carried out another eviction, arrested two of them, confiscated the security vehicle on site without any justification, and attempted to seize a flock of sheep, an act that was halted due to dozens of Israelis who began gathering to protest the eviction.
During the eviction, Border Police officers used severe violence against the homestead residents. Officers were filmed choking and beating a youth who lay on the ground and groaned in pain, and another Border Police officer forcibly seized a man and tore parts of his beard. Another man's shirt was ripped by police officer.
At the Shirat Tzion homestead in Samaria near the settlement of Kdumim, Dozens of soldiers and police officers raided the homestead and evicted the residents. After they were removed, the officers gathered a large pile of property found on the hill, including clothes and personal items, and attempted to set it on fire.
When they failed to light the pile on fire, they brought a pickup and a cart to the site and confiscated all the equipment. The officers also informed residents that their flock would be confiscated and that an animal transport truck was on its way, but ultimately abandoned the seizure because many Israelis began congregating nearby and declared they would stop the animal transport truck with their bodies if necessary.
The eviction continued into Shabbat. An hour after candle lighting, Border Police officers still threatened residents, including a family with an infant, that if they did not leave the area in violation of Shabbat they would be arrested.
This evening after Shabbat ended, those on the hills sharply criticized Central Command chief Avi Bluth, whom they say is behind the events, and demanded that the Defense Minister stop remaining silent about the matter. "On this Sabbath eve red lines were crossed one after another by the security system that has turned the settlers into an enemy," said residents of the homesteads.
"We are, unfortunately, accustomed to persecution, but what unfolded here at the onset of Shabbat was a hate-driven, unrestrained campaign of persecution not seen like this before. The attempt to confiscate flocks of sheep - the settlement's most important means of preserving the open areas, the tearing out of a resident's beard, the confiscation of a security vehicle and the burning of property - made the forces seem as if they were a violent gang that had come to vandalize and destroy and not representatives of Israel's law enforcement."
"For months, Defense Minister Katz remained silent in the face of the escalating persecution led by Bluth, but now the straw has broken the camel's back. If the resounding silence of the Defense Minister continues, then it is being done with his consent and encouragement. We call on Minister Katz: stop sitting on the fence and make clear to the commander who has lost his way that this campaign must stop immediately," they added.