‘I thought we were going to be raped’: A night of settler terror in the Jordan Valley
Residents of Khirbet Humsa in the Jordan Valley, a day after they were attacked by settlers, 13 March 2026
Oren Ziv reports in +972 on 17 March 2026:
On the night of March 12, Israeli settlers raided the residential compound of the Abu Al-Kbash family in the Palestinian herding community of Khirbet Humsa in the northern Jordan Valley. They then forced residents and international protective presence activists into a tent, where they were tied up and abused for about an hour.
Around 10 adults and seven children were held inside the tent, according to witnesses. The attackers beat them with clubs, poured cold water on them, threatened them, and sexually assaulted one of the residents. Four Palestinians and two international activists were later taken to hospital in the nearby city of Tubas.
The attack comes amid escalating violence and displacement in the northern Jordan Valley, where Palestinian herding communities have faced mounting pressure from Israeli settlers and the military. In recent weeks alone, at least four communities in the area have been forced to leave their homes.
The violence has also included deadly incidents involving Israeli forces. Early Sunday morning in the village of Tammun, four members of the Bani Odeh family — Ali, 37; his wife Wad, 35; and their sons Othman, 7, and Muhammad, 5 — were shot dead as they returned from Nablus, where they had gone to shop for Eid Al-Fitr, unaware that an undercover Israeli unit was operating in the village.
Home to about 20 residents, Khirbet Humsa is one of the few communities still remaining in the area. Settlers enter its lands almost daily, while the army frequently detains Palestinians grazing their sheep in areas settlers claim as their own.
According to four witnesses who spoke to +972 — all of whom asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal — the attack began late at night and involved dozens of settlers. A., who is about 40 years old, said a large group arrived at the first house in the village around 1 a.m.
“I tried to run away, but they caught me, beat me, cut my hand with a knife, and tied my hands and feet with plastic zip-ties,” he told +972, showing the marks left on his arms and legs.