One Sunday earlier this month, settlers began showing up at Ahmad Malihaat’s village. Four days later, Malihaat and the rest of the small hamlet of Maghar al-Deir were gone.

Video from the day the settlers arrived, May 18, shows a group of young men sporting the long hair and sidelocks typical of extremist settler youth drilling a post hole into the rocky earth near the village, situated a few kilometers east of Ramallah.

By that evening, as a heatwave that had blanketed the region began to break, several sheep pens and a shade canopy were standing in close proximity to Maghar al-Deir’s homes.

That night, some of the Israeli settlers camped out in their new outpost, as they have every night since. In the days that followed, numerous videos surfaced showing more settlers arriving in vehicles and walking around the area near the Bedouin homes.

But they also allegedly did more to stake their claim to the rugged slope where the 30 families of Maghar al-Deir had lived without official authorization — some of it belonging to the Palestinian village of Deir Dibwan and some in an area that Israel designates as state land.

“The settlers came, pitched a tent, brought sheep, and started roaming around the houses,” said Malihaat, who had lived there his whole life. “Less than 100 meters from the homes, they harassed us, coming with ATVs, circling every day. They threw stones at a car that entered our community.”

On May 22, Maghar al-Deir became the latest West Bank village to empty out due to settler intimidation, part of what appears to be a brazen campaign to push Bedouin pastoralists off land where they have lived peacefully for decades or more.

“They wanted to take our sheep, but people left before that could happen,” Malihaat recalled as he met The Times of Israel in an unfinished house near the Palestinian town of Taybeh, where he has taken shelter with his family. “We left in fear.”

Activists spoke with the Civil Administration and the Israel Defense Forces about the harassment on behalf of the villagers, but received no response, Malihaat said.

“On Wednesday and Thursday, people started leaving. Even the landowners didn’t help us,” he said.

In response to The Times of Israel’s inquiry about why the outpost had not been dismantled despite residents’ concerns, the IDF stated: “The area in question is on state land and does not encroach on Bedouin territory, and therefore does not constitute a violation.”

A security official told The Times of Israel that the Civil Administration had received a report regarding construction equipment placed at the outpost. Officers were sent to the site and issued stop-work orders prohibiting further building.

However, the official explained that a formal evacuation process for an outpost typically takes several months and requires approval from the political level — in this case, the Defense Ministry’s Settlement Division, which is headed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a staunch supporter of the settlement enterprise.

Still, the official added, “If the regional brigade of the IDF in the area had determined there was a security risk, it would have had the authority to carry out an immediate evacuation.”

Malihaat’s sister Intisar, who fled with him to Taybeh, told The Times of Israel: “There were many provocations last week. They came into the homes, tried to talk to us, and wanted to provoke us. Some of the settlers were armed — they didn’t fire, but it was frightening. I was scared. They stood in front of the cars, in front of the sheep. I felt like the last week lasted 20 years.”

“I saw things I’ve never seen in my life,” she added. “On Thursday, it felt like war. They lit something on fire and walked around the houses singing — terrifying. We ran. I left with only the clothes on my back, I couldn’t collect anything.”

As police looked on that day, villagers dismantled what they could of their homes, loading belongings onto trucks and leaving for various other Palestinian towns in the area to find shelter.

Malihaat’s extended family now lives in a half-built house near Taybeh, while their sheep were relocated to another village, Beitunia, closer to Ramallah.

“We left things behind — cars, tools. The entire area is now open to the settlers,” said a former Maghar al-Deir resident named Mohammed. “People are scattered, the community is gone, and this chapter is over. Some are in the village of Ramon, some in Taybeh, some in Beitunia. We’ve lived there since 1984 — over 40 years. We’ve never experienced anything like this. People are at a dead end, they don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do. There are caravans here  — we’ll stay here for the summer. In winter, I have no idea what we’ll do.”

Khalil Malihaat, another resident of Maghar al-Deir who fled last week, told The Times of Israel that “the entire community left within an hour.”

“I took my sheep, about 100 of them, but didn’t take any belongings. My whole family left with just the clothes we were wearing,” he said. “I have three children. Now I’m on land near Taybeh — five families live in a single room in mobile homes. I don’t know where I’ll go from here.”

On May 24, residents returned to the area to collect belongings but were attacked by settlers. Twelve residents were injured, including 14-year-old Omar Malihaat, who told The Times of Israel that around 30 settlers arrived as residents were gathering their possessions, assaulted him with sticks, and wounded him in the head.

Footage from the incident shows about eight settlers, some masked, throwing stones. Omar was hospitalized in Ramallah; according to a medical report reviewed by The Times of Israel, he required stitches and was later released.

An Israeli activist who was accompanying the Bedouin community was also injured during the incident.

Just north of Maghar al-Deir, roughly 1,000 Bedouins once lived across several communities. All have either been displaced or fled over the past two years due to settler violence.

Residents who remain in the area fear the worst is not over. Some of them have already received threats after the displacement of Maghar al-Deir. Settlers arrived on May 24 at a nearby Bedouin village, Makhmas, home to about 40 people, carrying sticks and stones, a local said.

“Around 4:00 p.m., several groups approached us from different directions. They told us in Arabic and Hebrew: ‘You have to leave. If you don’t, we’ll burn you,'” said Makhmas resident Youssef Kaabneh via telephone. “Some were armed, others weren’t; some had sticks. They had dogs. No one was physically hurt, but they circled us, broke trees, terrified the children, and then left.”

“The attacks keep happening — they come with tractors, they come with cattle,” he added. “We’re not thinking about what comes next. People are exhausted, they have no money, and they’re suffering from oppression.”