Only four families remain in the community of Khirbet Samrah. They number a total of 32 people, including eight minors, and belong to a single extended family: ‘Abd ‘Awwad Daraghmeh, his wife and their three sons with their families. The families live on land they and the extended Daraghmeh family own. In recent months, settlers have stepped up efforts to drive the families from their homes and complete the expulsion of the Khirbet Samrah community.
Settlers arriving from the direction of outposts established just a few kilometers away from the community, as well as nearby settlements, invade the community on ATVs, and sometimes on horseback, on a daily basis, often twice a day. They drive among the homes and livestock pens, kicking up clouds of dust that enter residents’ homes, honk their horns, blast loud music and film residents, including women and children. The settlers occasionally get off their ATVs, approach residents, try to provoke confrontations and then call in the military and make false accusations to get residents arrested.
Settlers have also planted flags inside the community and erected fences to its east, west and north, blocking shepherds’ access to extensive pasturelands and to their privately owned fields.
Settler incursions into the community in October 2025, partial list:
On the morning of Friday, 31 October 2025, two settlers riding an ATV invaded the community and stayed for more than half an hour, driving around the homes, provoking residents and frightening the children. That evening, two settlers invaded the community on horseback, approached residents’ homes and roamed around the area for nearly half an hour.
During the week of 10 to 17 October 2025, and on Saturday, 18 October 2025, at least nine settler incursions into the community were documented, sometimes on ATV, sometimes by car and sometimes on horseback. The incursions occurred both during the day and at night.
On Friday, 3 October 2025, and Saturday, 4 October 2025, settlers riding an ATV invaded the community.
Between 22 and 24 October 2025, settlers were documented placing barbed-wire fencing along Route 578 (Alon Road). The fences were installed on the west side of the road, starting near the military base built west of Khirbet Samrah and running roughly four kilometers north. The fence is intended to block residents’ access to privately owned agricultural land and to prevent shepherds from Khirbet Samrah and Khallet Makhul from reaching vast pastureland.