these are citizens of the land we give up everything to support;

Israeli settlers kidnapped and abused two 15-year-old Palestinian boys in the occupied West Bank earlier this week, the UN says.

In a “Humanitarian Situation Update” on Thursday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the boys were assaulted as they were herding sheep around the suburb of Irtas south of Bethlehem on August 12.

The settlers put knives on the boys’ necks and took them to their settlement outpost, where they beat them, broke their legs, and urinated on them, according to the report. They then put the boys in a vehicle and threw them in open land near Irtas.

Other Palestinians found them there and called an ambulance, which took them to a hospital for treatment.

Israeli settlers injured at least four other Palestinians in attacks on August 6, 7 and 9. In one incident, they tried to steal a herd of 400 sheep from Palestinian shepherds near al-Khalil.

The report said there had been 1,250 assaults by Israeli settlers against the Palestinians in the West Bank since Israel launched its campaign of death and destruction in the besieged Gaza Strip on October 7.

In another development, settlers burned dozens of olive trees in Khalil al-Lawz, near Bethlehem........more........