A Palestinian Bedouin community of about 30 families fled the Ayn Ayoub area northwest of Ramallah on 12 August after weeks of intimidation that escalated into arson attacks, livestock poisoning and direct threats by Israeli settlers, according to the Al-Baydar Organisation for the Defence of Bedouin Rights. The rights group said settlers, mainly foreign-born, began erecting a new outpost on the land almost immediately after the residents departed. Residents told local media that Israel Defense Forces soldiers declared the area a closed military zone on 10 August and the following day ordered remaining villagers to leave—an instruction the army later described as a “misunderstanding.” No injuries were reported, but community members said they abandoned homes built over four decades. The forced departure underscores a broader rise in settler violence in the occupied West Bank. U.N. figures show 740 reported incidents against Palestinians in the first six months of 2025, while nearly 3,000 people have been uprooted since the start of 2023. Human-rights organisations say the trend has accelerated under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing governing coalition, which critics accuse of failing to curb vigilante attacks as settlement expansion continues.