Israeli settlers attack Palestinian livestock herders in West Bank

Israeli settlers chased and harassed Palestinian livestock herders in the northern Jordan Valley region, northeast of the occupied West Bank, according to Wafa new agency. 

Mehdi Daraghmeh, head of the al-Maleh village council, said settlers forced the herders out of grazing areas in the al-Burj area in the Jordan Valley on Sunday. 

Daraghmeh said settlers regularly harass and expel herders from the already limited pastures available to them.

He added that tens of thousands of acres of grazing land in the northern Jordan Valley are now effectively under the control of settlers, severely impacting Palestinian communities that depend on livestock for their livelihoods.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, a Palestinian shepherd sustained bruises on Sunday morning after being assaulted by armed Israeli settlers in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron. 

Armed settlers chased and attacked Hani Abu Aram with stones, while he was herding his sheep.