Pogrom in Khillat al-Sidra area of Mukhmas

During the night of January 17–18, 2026, Israeli settlers carried out a pogrom on the Bedouin community of Khillet al-Sidra, near the town of Mikhmas (Mukhmas), northeast of Jerusalem (al-Quds). Israeli settlers from the close illegal outpost launched a wide-scale attack on the community, setting fire set fire to at least eight homes and two vehicles, firing live ammunition at the Bedouin encampment before assaulting people and vandalizing property.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society confirmed that its medical teams treated at least two Palestinians injured during the attack near Mikhmas. Social media footage and photographs documented extensive property damage, including burned structures and vehicles.

The Palestinian Authority stated that 2 Palestinians and 2 foreign activists were hospitalized after attack on Khallet al-Sidra.

Security camera footage sent to The Times of Israel by Rabbi Arik Ascherman, an Israeli human rights activist, showed individuals walking around the encampment and setting tents on fire. In the footage, which was timestamped shortly before 10 p.m., the sound of gunfire can be heard, followed by people shouting before the settlers stormed the encampment.

An unnamed human rights activist told Haaretz that the settlers beat them with clubs and rocks for a number of minutes and that their possessions were burned in the attack : “I am in terrible pain and I am bleeding. The settlers, about 20 of them, arrived while some of us were sleeping. They beat us with clubs and rocks, inside the houses and then outside them, and set the houses on fire and chased us around,” “They beat me in the legs, head and groin with clubs for several minutes. They beat us so hard,”. “Everything here is gone. Everything is burned, even our passports that were inside. Everything was set on fire.”

According to Rabi Ascherman, the assailants came from the illegal outpost of Kol Mevaser, one of several settler communities that have encircled Mukhmas over the past few months. It took Israeli security forces two hours to arrive at the scene from the time they were first contacted. He said the outpost has a standing demolition order against it, and Israeli security forces have dismantled it repeatedly but the settlers have kept rebuilding until “the forces gave up.”

The assault formed part of an ongoing pattern of settler violence aimed at forcibly displacing Bedouin communities from strategically located land, often carried out with the presence or protection of Israeli forces.

The IDF said military, police and Border Police troops who arrived at the scene located an Israeli vehicle that was apparently used by the assailants. Inside the car were several clubs, the military said. Palestinian, Israeli and foreign nationals were injured in the attack, and they were carrying out searches of the area to try and find the attackers.

Broader context: Israeli settlers carried out coordinated attacks across several areas of the occupied West Bank, under the protection of Israeli occupation forces. At least six Palestinians, including a child, were injured.

Aftermath of an Israeli settlers’ attack on the Bedouin community of Khallet al-Sidra, northeast of al-Quds, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on January 17, 2026.

Previous attack

A similar wide-scale attack was carried out last November in the same area. The attack was clearly coordinated with the Israeli forces and the incident was not investigated by Israeli authorities.