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On September 2, Israeli settlers and soldiers stormed the homes of Palestinian shepherds in al-Mughayyir and attempted to steal their sheep. When villagers protested, Israeli soldiers shot and killed two teenagers from the village, 19-year-old Omar al-Naasan and 16-year-old Khalil Shehadeh.

The village of al-Mughayyir, located in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, is currently on the front line of encroachments by the Israeli army as well as Israeli settlers. Residents say that it faces ethnic cleansing and erasure, with settler expansion and land seizures posing a grave threat to Palestinian communal life.

Hana Masud, a Palestinian American based in Chicago whose family is from al-Mughayyir, explained to Truthout that it is a small village featuring three major extended families, one of them her own. Her father, who is 85 years old, has witnessed Israel’s attacks and encroachment for decades, and has worked to keep the institutions of the village standing. But since October 2023, and over the past few months, the village has felt its continued existence under threat.

Since October 2023, settlers have attacked al-Mughayyir numerous times, and the Israeli army has increasingly restricted community members’ access to their farmlands. The largest attack took place on April 12, 2024, when hundreds of settlers, escorted by Israeli soldiers, stormed the village, setting fire to residents’ homes and cars. One resident, 25-year-old Jihad Abu Alia, was shot in the head and killed, only weeks before his wedding.

For the past year, al-Mughayyir has faced sieges at the hands of the Israeli military, as well as armed settler attacks, with settlers consistently escorted by the........

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