Seventy-one Jewish farmers and shepherds have been wounded in Palestinian terrorist assaults across Judea and Samaria since the beginning of 2025, according to an Israeli rescue organization.
Data gathered by the Hatzalah Judea and Samaria (Rescuers Without Borders) NGO and cited by the Israel Hayom daily over the weekend indicate a rise in violence targeting Jewish agriculturists.
Fifty-two shepherds and 19 residents of Jewish farms sustained wounds in the first seven months of the year, alongside “dozens” of additional assaults that ended without casualties.
Victims were attacked “with stones, gunfire, axes, clubs, attempted car rammings and severe violence, alongside extensive online incitement and calls to harm Jews who are defending state lands from Arab invasion and takeover,” the organization told Israel Hayom.
Four of the violent incidents targeting Jewish farmers and shepherds took place in the past week, Hatzalah Judea and Samaria noted.
An Israeli civilian sustained light wounds on Thursday when an Arab terrorist opened fire at a group of shepherds near the Malachei Hashalom Farm in the Binyamin region of southern Samaria.
The terrorist, who emerged from the nearby Palestinian village of Al-Mughayyir, fired one shot at the shepherds before his gun jammed.
Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz called it a “miracle” that the attack near the farming outpost did not end in further bloodshed.
“This was a planned ambush that ended with a miracle. We support the security forces and the courageous farmers in Binyamin,” said Ganz.
“The farmers have proved again how important their presence is in the open areas between the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem and that they are protecting our country’s lands,” the regional Israeli leader declared.
Arab aggression against Jewish shepherds in Judea and Samaria has been on the rise for years, according to data collected by authorities.
“Jewish farmers are grazing their sheep in open areas; Arabs don’t like that, even if it happens in Area C [of Judea and Samaria, where Israeli civilian communities are located]. They’re trying to stop them by using violence, a local official from Judea and Samaria told JNS on Aug. 9, 2023.
More generally, Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times in 2024, according to figures published by Hatzalah Judea and Samaria on Feb. 17.
Twenty-seven Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria last year, with more than 300 others wounded, the NGO’s annual report stated.
