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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli settlers reportedly set ablaze some 100 olive trees on Tuesday belonging to Palestinians in the village of Beit Tamir in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Hassan Brijiyeh, a member of the village’s anti-settlement committee, was quoted by Wafa as saying that Israeli settlers set the olive trees on fire in a five dunam (1 acre) plot of land, which was reportedly located near an Israeli outpost -- considered illegal under both Israeli and international law.

The land belongs to Mubarak and Muhammad Zawahreh, Wafa reported.
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law, with recent announcements of settlement expansion provoking condemnation from the international community.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there were a total of 107 reported settler attacks against Palestinians and their properties in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem in 2016.