Between writing & publishing this blog, a man in Masafer Yatta was shot point blank by an illegal Israeli settler armed with an assault rifle (see videos below).

“We live in constant fear. The situation nowadays is very dangerous and worse than ever. My dad was returning home from the city a couple days ago when the Israeli soldiers shot at him and hit the person behind him,” Besan, 18, describes how it is living in Masafer Yatta as the Israeli soldiers and settlers increase their attacks on people in her community.

While all the Palestinian’s – and the world’s – attention is focused on Gaza, the Israelis have seized the opportunity to harass and punish the Palestinian people in Masafer Yatta without anyone noticing. For years, illegal and armed Israeli settlers have harassed Palestinian families and attacked them while they farm or graze their livestock. But now they are becoming more bold.

The settlers have been forcibly entering and searching Palestinians houses, attacking the people in their farms and pastures – often hitting them until they are forced to leave. It’s not only that the settlers attack under the protection of the Israeli occupation soldiers, the settlers are now even disguising themselves in army uniforms when they carry out their attacks, further illustrating the collusion between the occupation forces and illegal settlers.

It’s becoming very difficult and dangerous to move around. Israel has put the whole West Bank under closure, blocking the entrances and exits to all the major cities and closing down many checkpoints including the one that controls movement between the north and south of the West Bank. In Masafer Yatta, soldiers are also blocking roads between villages. The occupation soldiers are shooting live bullets at people, both pedestrians and motorists, at random. People have been shot while on the roads and at home as well.

The brutal attacks target children and adults. In the village of Maghayer Al Abeed settlers broke into a house of an elderly husband and wife and beat them. In Wadi Jehesh, the settlers attack a farmer and his family. The children are now terrified and wake up in the night yelling: “settlers, settlers!”

The community in Masafer Yatta has formed night committees to monitor the situation and warn people before there is an attack.

Palestinians are under attack in every village and city. While the airstrikes land on Gaza, 49 Palestinians and counting have been killed in the Occupied West Bank and hundreds more have been injured.