On Sunday, 10 November 2024, farmers from the village of Deir Razih went to harvest olives on their land, near their homes. Soon after, soldiers came from a nearby watchtower, drove the harvesters out and told them they needed a permit from the DCO to harvest there. Farmers did not need permits to harvest in that area in previous years. The farmers were forced to go home.
On Friday, 15 November 2024, around 9:00 A.M., the farmers returned, after receiving permission to harvest. After about an hour, soldiers arrived and drove them away again. H.H. and her two teenage sons were among the harvesters. When they saw the soldiers, the two boys fled for fear of being attacked. The soldiers asked the mother why the boys had run away, and when she refused to answer, one of them hit her on the head with the butt of a rifle. H.H. left, leaving behind the olives they had picked.
That night, the family returned to the area and collected the olives they had picked. They have not gone to harvest the plot since, for fearing the soldiers will attack them.
In a testimony she gave B’Tselem field researcher Basel Adra on 1 December 2024, H.H. said:
My sons went home, and a few minutes later, the soldiers spoke to us. The soldiers asked, ‘What are you doing here?’ So I told them we had coordination to harvest olives. They told me I wasn’t allowed to stay in the plot, and one of them came over and asked: ‘Where did the kids go?’ I told him I didn’t know them or where they’d gone. He asked again: ‘Where are the kids?’ I said again that I didn’t know. The soldier hit me on the left side of my head with his rifle, and I felt dizzy.
I went home, leaving the olives on the ground. We went back that night and gathered them. I went to the hospital to get checked because of the blow to my head, and they told me I had a bruise. They asked me to come back the next day to make sure I was okay. We haven’t gone back to the land to harvest olives since that incident. I’m scared for my safety and for my children’s safety. There are at least six olive trees there that haven’t been harvested.