Settlers Attack Palestinian Family Compound in West Bank, Damaging Homes and Vehicles

Approximately 30 settlers attacked the Masallam family compound in Khirbet al-Marajim on the night of March 14 2025, arriving on foot and on ATVs. They threw stones at the house, tried to smash the metal door with an axe, smashed windows and set fire to the family car and to Muhammad Masallam's house. The March 14 2025 attack lasted nearly 20 minutes.

In the chaos, 18-month-old Musa and his six-month-old sister Mira were taken from a burning room by the settlers. The two infants were abandoned by the settlers in a wild field and later found crying by relatives from Duma. " The Israeli army arrived at the Masallam compound half an hour after the March 14 2025 attack began.

An Israeli soldier punched 14-year-old Leen Masallam in the face on March 14 2025. Thabet Masallam said: "The army is with the settler. They work together. " In the area of the March 14 2025 attack, three homes were set alight and settlers fired live rounds and vandalised solar panels and windows.

Muhammad Masallam's house was destroyed in the March 14 2025 arson attack. The family filed a complaint but no one was held accountable. " Mona left the family compound and stayed with her parents for more than two months after the March 14 2025 attack.

The Masallam family compound is located in Khirbet al-Marajim, occupied West Bank, which lies 1 kilometre southwest of the Palestinian town of Duma in the central West Bank. Fifteen people live across three single-room homes in the Masallam family compound. The Masallam compound is one of only two full households occupied year-round in Khirbet al-Marajim.

The old stone house in the Masallam compound was built more than a century ago. Hajja Latifa is 66 years old. Thabet Masallam is 24 years old. Nayef is 52 years old. Maysoon is 42 years old. Muhammad Masallam is 25 years old.

Mona is 21 years old. Leen Masallam is 14 years old. The family patriarch Musa was 80 years old when he was killed in 2016. Musa was struck by a motorcycle ridden by a settler from Kokhav HaShahar while crossing Allon Road in 2016.

Musa died of internal bleeding on the way to hospital after the 2016 incident. An Israeli ambulance attended only to the settler and not to Musa in 2016.

The military and settlers banned the Masallam family from accessing the hill where Musa was struck after 2016. The settlement of Malachei HaShalom was established in 2015 and legalised by the Israeli government in 2023. A satellite outpost of Malachei HaShalom was established less than 1 kilometre from the Masallam home in November 2024.

The family has been unable to harvest their wheat fields for three years. The family once produced roughly 1,000 litres of olive oil per year but produced only 10 litres in the most recent season. The family owns 450 olive trees, all of which have sustained serious damage from settlers' cows.

The family previously bought 10 tonnes of animal fodder per year for 15,000 shekels but now buys 50 tonnes for 75,000 shekels. From the beginning of 2023 to April 22 2026 at least 5,879 Palestinians from 116 West Bank communities were forcibly displaced by settler violence according to OCHA.

Forty-five communities were erased completely according to OCHA data from beginning of 2023 to April 22 2026.

Hajja Latifa said they would go to Duma at night, stay until 10 or 11, walk home, and sleep outside under the stars. Nayef said: "When relatives from Talfit would come, they would help us harvest the wheat. " Maysoon said: "How beautiful, how happy the harvests were!

Thabet said: "You understand how the settler fights you? Because you have no income and are poor, bit by bit, he destroys you until you say, ‘I don’t want the sheep.