(MENAFN) Israeli troops on Saturday opened fire and deployed stun and tear gas grenades at Palestinian farmers in Kobar, a village north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, as they attempted to access their lands for the crucial olive harvest.

According to a correspondent, several farmers tried to reach their groves in Kobar’s western sector when soldiers fired at them, compelling the farmers to withdraw. No injuries were reported.

“The (Israeli) occupation army prevented farmers from reaching their lands west of the village, particularly in the Qanater and Daak areas, and opened fire at them without causing injuries,” farmer Fahd Abu al-Hajj told media.

Farmers had come to their lands following an Israeli Supreme Court ruling permitting olive harvesting in this area, which the military had previously blocked, Abu al-Hajj explained.

He further stated that Israeli forces and illegal settlers have for years obstructed Palestinians from accessing lands near an unauthorized outpost close to the settlement of Halamish, built on territory belonging to Kobar and surrounding villages.

In a separate incident on Saturday, illegal armed settlers attacked olive pickers in Turmus Ayya, northeast of Ramallah, according to a Palestinian news agency .

A group of settlers assaulted a family harvesting olives in the al-Dilja area east of the town, damaging their vehicle’s windows and attempting to force them off their land. The family confronted the assailants, ultimately driving them away, the agency reported.

Palestinian farmers routinely face attacks by Israeli soldiers and illegal settlers during the annual olive harvest, frequently being barred from reaching their groves.

The Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission described this year’s harvest as “the most dangerous in decades,” noting that farmers endure daily assaults without protection.

The commission reported that Israeli settlers and military personnel have damaged or uprooted 48,728 trees—37,237 of them olive trees. Over the past two years of conflict, settlers have carried out 7,154 attacks against Palestinians and their property throughout the West Bank, killing 33 Palestinians and displacing 33 Bedouin communities.

Since October 2023, Israeli strikes have killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians in Gaza, predominantly women and children, leaving the enclave devastated and largely uninhabitable.

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