Abd Alfattah Tamimi, who owns an olive grove near Ramallah, watched a military bulldozer smash the crown of a tree before tearing its roots from the soil, a scene he said repeated across the village.
"All our olive trees, including the newly planted ones, were uprooted. They left us with nothing," Tamimi told Reuters, adding that his neighbours own a similar parcel of land and suffered the same loss.
Nather Tamimi, another local landowner, said the destruction hits at the heart of the community’s livelihood. "From this land, my brothers and I produce 120 drums of olive oil. Our neighbours produce the same," he said, noting that trees were pulled up even between houses.
The olive harvest, which normally begins in the first week of October, is a cornerstone of Palestinian agriculture, accounting for roughly 8% of the territory’s GDP and supporting more than 60,000 jobs, according to the Palestinian Authority’s agriculture ministry.
The Israeli military has not responded to Reuters’ request for comment. In previous incidents, the army has justified tree removal as a security measure to prevent ambushes, a claim rejected by Palestinian human‑rights groups who say the practice deprives farmers of income and attacks a symbol of their connection to the land.
Activists warn that this year’s harvest could be especially volatile, amid a reported surge in settler attacks on Palestinian property and resources throughout the occupied West Bank.