A group of Israeli settlers have destroyed 350 olive trees in groves near the village of Jit, to the east of Qalqilya, in the latest attack on Palestinian livelihoods in the West Bank.
Local sources affirmed that settlers from the Kedumim illegal settlement felled hundreds of trees on Palestinian land, many of which were over 13 years old.
Clearing olive trees is an increasingly common tactic used by expansionist settlers to drive Palestinians off their land, destroying their harvests and cutting off their income.
Up to 100,000 Palestinians rely on the olive sector for their livelihoods in the West Bank.
However, 13,130 olive trees were uprooted in similar settler attacks in 2022.
Palestinian estimates indicate there are about 650,000 Jewish settlers living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem.
International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activities there illegal.
