The coordinated assault targeted approximately five workshops, with attackers scaling walls with ladders, throwing stones, and setting fire to heavy equipment. Responding Israeli troops closed off the perimeter, preventing locals from moving freely to douse the flames. Ashraf Ghazaly, one of the affected owners, reported losing over 3.3 million shekels in machinery, including an excavator acquired just days earlier. The incident marks the third raid on the hub in recent months, raising fears for the livelihoods of more than 500 local workers.
Key points
The Beita stone-cutting hub sustains over 500 employees whose households depend entirely…: The Beita stone-cutting hub sustains over 500 employees whose households depend entirely on the operational facilities.
Workshop owners maintain that the recurring vandalism is deliberately aimed at displacing…: Workshop owners maintain that the recurring vandalism is deliberately aimed at displacing Palestinian businesses to facilitate land seizures.
The destruction severely compounds existing economic struggles caused by military checkpo…: The destruction severely compounds existing economic struggles caused by military checkpoints, elevated production costs, and export constraints.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
Israeli settlers attacked an industrial zone in the Palestinian town of Beita, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, on Monday, setting fire to heavy machinery, vehicles and equipment and causing extensive damage.
Dozens of settlers stormed the industrial zone and torched three excavators, along with several other vehicles and pieces of equipment belonging to local stone-cutting workshops.
Ashraf Ghazaly, the owner of the heavy machinery, said more than 150 settlers took part in the attack. They threw stones at Palestinian workers before storming one of the workshops and setting fire to machinery, vehicles and equipment.
Ghazaly estimated the losses at more than 3.3 million shekels (approximately $1m). One excavator had been purchased just four days earlier.
"They assaulted my brother and other workers; no one was able to stand up to them or stop them," Ghazaly told Middle East Eye.
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The settlers came from the "Navitar" settlement, established on land belonging to Beita.
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