AL-KHALIL, (PIC)
Before the arrival of Eid al-Adha by just a few days, sheep markets in the city of al-Khalil, in the southern occupied West Bank, appeared far quieter than usual. Traders describe this season as one of the harshest in years, as Palestinians grapple with a deepening economic crisis, soaring livestock prices, and collapsing purchasing power.
Inside the market, hundreds of sheep stand crowded in pens while merchants wait for hours for the few customers who still arrive. Sellers attempt to attract buyers by any means possible, fearing the season will end in devastating losses.
This year’s Eid comes amid severe economic hardship, compounded by delayed salaries for Palestinian Authority employees and escalating attacks by Israeli settlers against livestock breeders, assaults that have inflicted direct damage on one of the West Bank’s most vital rural sectors.
The market is almost paralyzed
Palestinian livestock trader Mohammad Ahmad al-Labib, who has worked in the sheep trade for nearly fifty years, says business this season is “almost frozen” compared to previous years.
“In past years, I used to sell at least 50 sheep before Eid,” he told Anadolu Agency. “This year, I’ve sold only five.”
Al-Labib explained that sheep prices have doubled over recent years. “A kilogram of lamb used to sell for five Jordanian dinars. Today it has reached ten and a half dinars,” he said.
He added that the economic collapse has shattered Palestinians’ ability to purchase sacrificial animals.
“People have no money. Some cannot even afford food and water so how are they supposed to buy sacrifices?” he asked.
According to him, worsening unemployment and irregular payment of government wages have further crippled daily life and commercial activity across the market.
The occupied West Bank has been suffering from an escalating economic crisis for months, unfolding alongside Israel’s war on Gaza and intensified military raids and settler violence throughout Palestinian towns and cities.
On April 30, 2026, data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics showed unemployment in the West Bank had surged to 28% during the final quarter of 2025, compared to 13% in the third quarter of 2023.
The number of employed workers also dropped sharply from 868,000 workers in late 2023 to around 736,000 by the end of 2025 a decline of 15%, driven by collapsing opportunities in construction, industry, transport, storage, and communications.
Settler violence deepens the crisis
Elsewhere in the market, trader Ismail Bani Hassan pointed to the shrinking number of sheep available for sale compared to previous years. He attributed the decline to rising breeding costs, shortages of livestock, and repeated settler attacks targeting shepherds in the Badia regions and Masafer Yatta, south of al-Khalil.
“Today, a single sacrificial sheep may cost 700 dinars, while people can barely secure their basic needs,” he said.
Bani Hassan accused Israeli settlers of attacking shepherds “almost daily” and stealing livestock, contributing to both reduced herd numbers and soaring prices.
“The settlers have tightened the noose around us in every possible way,” he said. “Breeders are literally losing their sheep, and that has directly affected the market and prices.”
The impact of settler violence, he stressed, no longer stops at grazing lands but now shapes the entire livestock economy.
Financial collapse casts a shadow over Eid
Nearby, trader Riyad al-Jabareen sat beside his sheep enclosure, watching the weak flow of customers. Al-Jabareen lives in Masafer Yatta, an area increasingly targeted by settler assaults on Palestinian shepherds and homes.
The latest attack came early Thursday morning, when settlers infiltrated a Palestinian residence in the area and stole between 45 and 50 sheep.
“This year’s demand does not exceed 20% of what we saw in previous seasons,” al-Jabareen said. “The economic situation is extremely difficult, and people now have priorities more urgent than buying sacrificial animals.”
He linked the collapse in demand to spiraling prices and the Palestinian Authority’s inability to consistently pay salaries.
“If an employee receives only 1,000 or 1,500 shekels, how can he possibly buy a sacrifice?” he asked.
The Palestinian Authority has endured a chronic financial crisis since 2019, one that reportedly worsened dramatically throughout 2025 as unpaid obligations and deficits climbed to $4.26 billion, according to Palestinian figures.
Since 2019, Israel has repeatedly deducted sums from Palestinian tax revenues under various pretexts before halting transfers altogether over the past nine months, plunging the Authority into an even deeper fiscal crisis and leaving it unable to fully pay public-sector salaries.
No support, only mounting losses
Al-Jabareen criticized the absence of government support for farmers and livestock breeders, saying settler violence has directly devastated sheep farming and inflated prices.
“Some breeders and traders have lost dozens of sheep because of settler attacks and theft,” he said.
Many shepherds, he explained, are no longer able to safely access grazing lands or protect their livestock, especially in areas surrounding Israeli settlements and outposts.
In recent months, attacks by settlers against Bedouin communities and shepherds particularly in the Jordan Valley and Masafer Yatta south of al-Khalil, have intensified, including livestock theft, assaults on shepherds, and blocking access to grazing areas, according to repeated Palestinian testimonies.
The violence forms part of a broader escalation across the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Commission Against the Wall and Settlements documented 1,637 settler attacks during April alone.
These attacks have unfolded alongside an intensified Israeli military campaign across the West Bank since the start of the war on Gaza on October 8, 2023 a campaign marked by raids, arrests, killings, and widespread destruction of Palestinian property.
According to official Palestinian figures, Israeli military operations and settler violence in the West Bank since then have killed 1,162 Palestinians, wounded approximately 12,245 others, and led to nearly 23,000 arrests.