Miles of fencing in Jordan Valley restrict Palestinian shepherds, IDF says marks firing zones

Unidentified actors have built miles of fencing in the Jordan Valley, restricting Palestinian shepherds' access to grazing areas. The IDF says the barriers mark military firing zones, but activists and residents suspect settlers are behind the construction. Dror Etkes of Kerem Navot estimates 60 km of fencing. OCHA recorded over 2,000 people displaced from January 2023 to July 2026.

Mohammad, a resident of al-Hadidiya in the northern Jordan Valley, woke up one morning in November 2025 to find people building a fence on his land, just a few hundred meters from his home. When he approached, the builders told him in Arabic to leave. The fence near al-Hadidiya stretches for at least several kilometers, largely cutting the 60 residents off from their grazing lands. The barrier is one of several fences built in recent years by unidentified actors, according to observers. The IDF told The Times of Israel that the military put up the barriers to demarcate and enclose military firing zones, citing safety incidents. However, Dror Etkes of Kerem Navot, who has mapped the fences, says the barriers overlap only partially with designated firing zones, and some are not near such areas. Photos and videos show the fences being built by people in civilian clothes, some wearing shirts with Hebrew writing, and in several cases minors were documented taking part. The state has acknowledged in two High Court cases that fences were erected in an unauthorized manner. The article notes that between January and May 2026, 107 settler attacks resulting in casualties or property damage were recorded in the Jordan Valley, according to OCHA. More than 2,000 people were displaced in the Jordan Valley between January 2023 and July 2026 due to settler violence and restrictions on access to grazing lands. The framing relies on multiple sources and documented evidence, but the IDF's response to specific discrepancies remains limited.