CCTV shows IDF troops escorting settlers said to be stealing Palestinians’ livestock

Soldiers accompanied settlers who reportedly stole 150 head of livestock from a West Bank Palestinian hamlet on Tuesday night, according to security camera footage published by left-wing Israeli activists.

The footage published on Thursday showed settlers walking some of the livestock, followed by at least six armed soldiers in uniform, in the Palestinian hamlet of Khirbet al-Halawa, in the enclave of Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank.

The soldiers were not wearing tactical vests or helmets, as troops typically do when operating in the West Bank.

Two Palestinian women can be seen following the soldiers. According to the Israeli activists, the women were from the families whose livestock was stolen.

The activists claimed that the women were detained by Israel for a day — bound, blindfolded and denied food.

In a statement earlier on Thursday, the IDF claimed that troops came to Khirbet al-Halawa after being alerted to the theft of livestock from a Jewish shepherd by Palestinians. The statement added that a Palestinian woman was arrested for allegedly assaulting an officer.

Settlers and soldiers steal a flock of sheep from the village of Halawe: during the brutal assault the day before yesterday on the villages of Masafer Yatta, the militias were recorded by security cameras stealing the sheep. . pic.twitter.com/xUyJh0dueD

— מחוץ לעדר/ kivsa shchora (@masafering) January 29, 2026

A military source said the IDF was investigating claims that soldiers stood idly by while sheep were being stolen.

The IDF did not respond to a request for comment on the new footage, including on why troops were not in full combat gear while operating in the West Bank, and why the army claimed publicly that livestock was stolen by Palestinians but alluded only off the record to the possibility that livestock was stolen by settlers.

Settlers burn homes in West Bank Bedouin enclave

A day later, IDF troops and Border Police officers were dispatched to the West Bank Bedouin enclave of Khallet al-Sidra, adjacent to Mukhmas, following an arson attack by Israeli settler extremists.

Footage shared with The Times of Israel by Rabbi Arik Ascherman, an Israeli human rights activist who frequents the area of Mukhmas, showed at least three homes on fire on Wednesday night, with the flames appearing to have been set inside the structures.

One video showed Palestinians holding a hose and approaching a home as flames raged inside and smoke billows out the windows.

Resident Samir Hammamdeh told WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, that settlers beat him, threw stones and used pepper-spray, causing injuries to his wife and children.

WAFA reported that the settlers had earlier shut down the only road to Khallet al-Sidra, and that several Israeli military vehicles entered the village after the attack.

The military said that the troops scanned the area, but “all of the arson suspects fled and no further findings were located.”

“The investigation of the incident will be conducted later today by the security agencies,” the IDF said.

Mukhmas and surrounding communities have come under attack from extremist settlers a number of times in recent months.

Earlier this month, settlers wounded at least four Palestinians and left-wing activists and set fire to at least eight homes and two cars in Khallet al-Sidra, according to the PA.

Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught, there has been a major surge in attacks by settler extremists on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank.

The IDF recorded over 750 incidents of Jewish nationalistic crime and settler violence in 2025, while the total for 2024 was 675 incidents.

The attacks, which occur on a near-daily basis, largely go unchecked.

Prosecution of Jewish extremists is rare, and convictions are even rarer. Critics have accused the government, described as the most hardline in Israel’s history, of turning a blind eye to the attacks.

Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed the rising settler violence, asserting to US media that only “a handful of kids” who are not from the West Bank were responsible for the attacks on Palestinians.