Israeli settler attacks during West Bank olive harvest 'organized terrorist policy': Hamas
Iran Press TV
Saturday, 25 October 2025 7:14 PM
A senior official of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has strongly condemned the ongoing brutal attacks carried out by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, condemning them as part of "an organized terrorist policy."
Abdul Rahman Shadid made the remarks on Saturday, as Israeli settlers' attacks on Palestinian farmers across the West Bank have intensified in recent days, particularly in an attempt to deter them from tending to olive trees during the harvest season.
Shadid further characterized these attacks as "an organized terrorist policy" that specifically targets land, people, and various aspects of Palestinian life in the West Bank.
He also stressed that the assaults are designed "to expand the settlements, terrorize residents and force them to abandon their lands."
On Friday, in the town of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah, a focal point of violence this year, Israeli settlers targeted Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest season, culminating in a disturbing incident captured on video.
The video footage depicted a young masked man striking an older Palestinian woman who was in the process of picking olives, causing her to collapse.
The distressing scene has brought attention to the heightened violence characterizing this year's olive harvest in the West Bank.
The annual harvest, once a peaceful gathering for families in the West Bank, has transformed in recent years into a series of increasingly violent confrontations involving Israeli settlers, troops, Palestinian harvesters, and foreign activists.
The olive harvest season began in October and will last until mid-November, as Palestinians across the West Bank harvest olives from trees they see as deeply connected to their national identity.
According to the agriculture ministry's 2021 census, the West Bank is home to over eight million olive trees for its three million Palestinian inhabitants. Every autumn, Palestinian farmers, as well as urban residents with family-owned trees, venture into the fields to handpick olives.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that 27 West Bank villages experienced attacks related to the harvest in the week of October 7 to 13 alone, underscoring the widespread impact of these incidents.
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