By Muhammad Mutoor suffers a spinal cord injury in an attack near Hebron as settler violence escalates across the occupied Palestinian territory
Israeli settlers shot and partially paralysed a Palestinian nurse in a town near Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Saturday.
Muhammad Mutoor, 26, suffered gunshot wounds that severed his spinal cord during a settler attack on Sa’ir, a town northeast of Hebron.
Another Palestinian man was also shot in the shoulder with live ammunition.
Khalil Mutoor, Muhammad’s uncle, told AfrikTimes that Muhammad went to the area after hearing about the attack.
As a nurse, he wanted to help the injured. But when he arrived, a settler shot him in the back. He said settlers had spread through the area, terrorizing residents and firing live ammunition at them.
“They aimed to kill, and they didn’t care about anything,” Khalil said.
“They were firing live ammunition randomly and had climbed onto the hill adjacent to the houses, aiming their weapons at the residents. One of their bullets struck Muhammad in the back. They intended to kill him.”
Ambulances were unable to reach Muhammad because settlers had blocked access to the area after establishing a new outpost in the al-Adisa neighbourhood in the town, to force Palestinian residents out.
Residents instead drove him to the nearby town of Bani Na’im before he was transferred to hospital.
“Like any Palestinian patient or injured person, Muhammad faced difficulty reaching the hospital. When he arrived, it was discovered that the bullet had severed his spinal cord,” Khalil added.
“He knew immediately after being shot that he was paralyzed, given his work as a nurse.”
Muhammad is preparing to transfer to Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem for further consultations, despite doctors giving little hope that he will regain function in his lower limbs because of the severity of the injury.
Muhammad recently built a house in the area and had planned to marry and settle there. He worked at Dura Governmental Hospital. Now, his uncle says, those plans have been shattered and his future is uncertain.
“Now he only hopes for treatment and to adapt to his new reality. He knows perfectly well that his injury is serious and will affect him for the rest of his life,” Khalil said.
Israeli settlers with assault rifles in the West Bank on July 1 2021.
Eight settlement outposts
The attack comes amid a sharp escalation in army-protected settler violence against Palestinians in villages and towns across the occupied West Bank, with Hebron one of the main targets.
Around 1,800 Palestinians live in al-Adisa, where the attack took place. The area sits on the frontline of settlement expansion, east of Route 60, a settler bypass road that has taken over large swathes of land belonging to Sa’ir, Hebron and neighbouring towns.
To the west lie the settlements of Kiryat Arba and Kharsina. For years, Palestinians in the area have faced attempts to restrict construction and development, alongside attacks on agricultural land and olive trees.
The pressure has gone beyond preventing Palestinian expansion to the gradual seizure of land.
In 2012, settlers, protected by the Israeli army, planted trees on parts of the lands of al-Adisa and al-Buq’a. The area affected was estimated at around 500 dunams (50 hectares) at the time and later became the site of attacks on trees and property.
Yousef Tarwa, an activist from Sa’ir, said that settlers have established eight outposts on the town’s lands since May 2025, spreading in all directions, seizing thousands of dunams and making life increasingly difficult for residents. He said al-Adisa is repeatedly targeted by settlers seeking to terrorize residents and drive them from the area, despite some homes dating back to 1940.
“A month ago, they entered the area and carried out extensive bulldozing operations on Palestinian lands under the protection of the Israeli army. They burned an entire hill, erected caravans, assaulted the residents and then began blocking the roads,” Tarwa told AfrikTimes.
With settlers blocking the main road, residents have been forced to use rough, unpaved tracks to reach their homes, turning journeys that once took minutes into hours of hardship.
“On the day Mutoor was wounded, the Israeli army was present alongside the settlers and did nothing to stop them,” Tarwa explained.
“It has become clear to us that the settler, the soldier and the Israeli policeman are all the same.”
Just hours after the attack in al-Adisa, Palestinian media reported another settler attack nearby in Hebron’s al-Ja’bari neighbourhood.
Ten Palestinians were wounded, including two who were shot with live ammunition. The Israeli army arrested one of the wounded men.
Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank are on the rise, with a spike since Israel’s present government took office and another since October 2023.
Rising toll
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said it had documented more than 1,330 settler attacks resulting in casualties or property damage across 250 Palestinian communities since the beginning of 2026, as of July 20.
The incidents amounted to more than six attacks a day.
At least 18 people have been killed and 880 more wounded during settler attacks in 2026.
The figures mark a sharp rise from the previous year. In 2025, Ocha documented around 830 Palestinians wounded by settlers across the entire year.
More than 2,300 Palestinians had also been displaced in 2026 as a result of settler attacks and related access restrictions, according to Ocha.
Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem across roughly 300 settlements and outposts. The settlements are regarded as illegal under international law, according to the International Court of Justice.
