The village was empty as its population of about 200 Palestinians left around a month ago, after sustained pressure and threats from armed and aggressive Jewish settlers who live in nearby outposts that are illegal under both Israeli and international law.

He is a former Israeli special forces soldier who is now an activist with Breaking the Silence, a group of former combatants who campaign against Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

In three days of travelling through the occupied West Bank, Palestinians have said consistently that since the war in Gaza started on 7 October, Jewish settlers are better armed and much more aggressive.

The reality of settler attacks was captured in a video taken by Muntassar Mhilat, a young Palestinian man from a family of Bedouins who live in the Judean desert not far from Jericho.

A common complaint is that settlers have been drafted into the security forces as reservists since 7 October and are abusing the power and position that come with the uniform and automatic weapons issued by the state.

Almost at the other end of the West Bank, in a village outside Nablus called Burin, Ahmed Tirawi, a farmer looked across the valley at his olive trees, starting to rot because he has been forbidden by the local settlers to pick them.

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