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NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers on Thursday cut down 1,150 olive trees in Palestinian groves near Nablus, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Residents of Itamar settlement used chainsaws to cut down the trees north of Awarta, said Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank.

The trees belonged to 25 Palestinian families and were planted in a 600-dunum grove, Daghlas said.