Salfit – Ma'an – Dozens of Israeli settlers from the illegal Netifim settlement tried to take control of a spring used by shepherds and farmers in the occupied West Bank on Monday, a local official said.

Abdul-Karim Rayyan, head of the local village council of Qarawat Bani Hassan, said the Netifim settlement was built on lands originally owned by the village, located west of Salfit in the northern West Bank.

Rayyan explained that several armed settlers brought construction materials and bulldozers and started digging up land in the area. He said Israeli soldiers escorted the settlers, highlighting that illegal settlement outposts had already been built in the area.

Ayyoub Asi, coordinator of the farmers union in the village, said local farmers attempted to counter the settlers, but failed because the settlers were armed, and because Israeli soldiers protected them.

Asi appealed to the governor of Salfit, Palestinians, and mayors of neighboring villages and towns to urge them to join the village’s efforts to confront the settlers and stop land confiscation.

A representative of the Israeli Civil Administration, a branch of Israel's Defense Ministry that operates in the occupied Palestinian territories, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.