The Israel Police and defense establishment are investigating a report that a number of right-wing extremist Israelis from the settlement of Yitzhar in the Samaria region of the West Bank beat a Palestinian shepherd and slaughtered several of his sheep.

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The Judea and Samaria Police launched an investigation into the matter and police scoured the area around Yitzhar. The shepherd was taken to hospital and police plan to gather his version of events.

One of the slaughtered sheep

According to a statement issued by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, a report was received about “a few masked settlers who descended from the direction of Yitzhar to Einabus, hit a shepherd and harmed a number of sheep.

“We emphasize that the security forces take seriously incidents such as these and they will act to arrest those involved,” the statement said. “The details have been transferred to the Israel Police.”

Last week, car tires were punctured belonging to a number of Palestinian vehicles near Nablus. Security forces suspect that an IDF soldier from the Golani Brigade was involved in the vandalism.

“The initial investigation indicates that one of the combat soldiers was involved in the incident,” an IDF statement said at the time. “This is an exceptional and grave incident, that is inconsistent with that which is expected from an IDF soldier. The incident will be investigated and the soldier will be dealt with,” it read.

Settlers allegedly hit a shepherd and harmed a number of sheep

In the same incident, hateful slogans and words were sprayed onto cars, such as “revenge” and “death to Arabs.”

Arriving at the scene, IDF soldiers and other security forces gathered evidence and testimony from the Palestinian owners of the vehicles before an investigation was opened by the Judea and Samaria Police and the Shin Bet.

The defense establishment had detected a rise in the number of "price tag" incidents in the West Bank in recent weeks, following the murders of Rabbi Raziel Shevah and Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal in Samaria.

Last week, according to defense sources, radical Jews vandalized windows and a water tank in the village of Qabaliya, near the settlement of Yitzhar. A day earlier, "Death to Arabs" and "Transfer now" graffiti were spray-painted in the village of Jit near Kedumim.

Other "price tag incidents" have been recorded since early February in the village of Nabi Salih against the Tamimi family and in the village of Khirbet Zakaria in Gush Etzion. In other incidents this month, Jews hurled stones at Palestinian vehicles near Ramallah and near a square south of Nablus, wounding a Palestinian.