11th March 2026. Once again settlers have attacked the Palestinian community in Khirbet Yarza, damaged their crops, pepper sprayed international activists and threatened to return to do worse.

At around 11am, two illegal Israeli settlers brought their cows to graze on Palestinian crops belonging to the family of Abu Faris Massaed. As international activists shooed the settler cows back off the closest field, two of the settlers confronted the activists and pepper sprayed one of them.

An hour later the settlers returned with their cows and drove an ATV onto the family’s property. They then pepper sprayed another international activist who was trying to herd the cows off the family’s field. This time the pepper spray was quite severe and Palestinians called an ambulance for the activist, who has since recovered.

Prominent, well-known settler, Abu Yussef, threatened Abu Faris and called the military

Around 40 minutes after this event, a settler named Abu Youssef, who is known to the Palestinians here as he has a history of intimidation and harassment, came back to threaten the father of the family. He said: “Now you have internationals protecting you, but when they leave we will do bad things to you.”
Settlers then called the military and three military jeeps came. Soldiers only talked to the settlers and not the family. After around 30 minutes the military left after taking pictures.

This was not an isolated incident but part of a settler campaign of harassment against the Palestinian community in Khirbet Yarza. On 27th January the settlers stole one of the Palestinian vehicles and on 30th December 2025 settlers attacked farmers as they attempted to plow their land and plant their crops.