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Current Affairs

West Bank settlers steal Palestinian family’s sheep herd ahead of Eid festival

Palestinian shepherd Sameeha Rasheed was planning for the sacred ritual of sacrificing her family’s sheep for the Eid al-Adha holiday, one of the holiest occasions…

By Samantha Johnson / May 26, 2026
Palestinian shepherd Sameeha Rasheed was planning for the sacred ritual of sacrificing her family’s sheep for the Eid al-Adha holiday, one of the holiest occasions in Islam, but West Bank Jewish settlers stole them in a predawn raid, she said.

Instead of celebrating, Rasheed has been left with nothing and has also been deprived of the income she would have received from selling the sheep not used by her family.

The settlers stole around 45 sheep from her home in Masafer Yatta, a collection of Palestinian hamlets near Hebron, she said. Before the theft, they stole the family’s guard dogs, so no one was alerted when the men broke in before dawn on Thursday and herded the animals away.

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“This is our livelihood, my husband and I live from the income from these sheep. I don’t have anything to get treatment for my husband or spend on myself,” said Rasheed, whose husband has cancer.

A vendor displays stuffed sheep toys outside his shop on the eve of the Eid al-Adha in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
A vendor displays stuffed sheep toys outside his shop on the eve of the Eid al-Adha in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Eid al-Adha, one of Islam’s two main festivals, marks the climax of the annual haj pilgrimage, when Muslims slaughter animals to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim, or Abraham, to sacrifice his son on God’s command, often distributing meat to the poor.

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