RAMALLAH /PNN /

Israeli military pressure on a Palestinian family east of Ramallah intensified on Saturday as troops raided the al-Khalayel area near the village of al-Mughayyir, issuing a one-day closed military zone order that residents say did not allow them to remain on their land.

Despite the order, members of the Abu Najeh family said they refused to leave their home. During the raid, Israeli forces detained three international activists, including two French citizens who are now facing deportation, according to activists and witnesses.

The closed military zone declared by the army includes a nearby settlement outpost that residents say has been the source of repeated harassment. No action was taken against settlers in the area, who continue to enter Bedouin lands freely, local residents said.

Israeli forces arrested French nationals Mercier Eli and Camille and transferred them to a police station in the Shaar Binyamin settlement, where they were questioned for allegedly violating a military order. Later on Saturday, the two were taken to Ben Gurion Airport’s detention facility after a hearing in which their visas were revoked. Both chose to contest deportation, activists said.

A third international activist was briefly detained, forced into a military jeep and later released near a main road, where settlers allegedly harassed him after following the vehicle.

The arrests come amid months of escalating tension in al-Khalayel, where Palestinian families, including the Abu Najeh and Abu Hamam households, say they have been subjected to repeated raids by Israeli forces and attacks by settlers.

Residents say settlers have grazed livestock on their land, damaging olive trees, stolen water supplies and dismantled fencing, often in the presence of Israeli soldiers. Several residents reported that sheep belonging to settlers have repeatedly destroyed olive groves after fences were damaged or removed.

In a written statement from detention, Camille said she had traveled to the West Bank as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement to stand with Palestinians facing displacement. “Palestinians are resisting in many ways to defend their right to remain and live with dignity on their land,” she wrote.

Mercier said in a separate statement that he supported what he described as resistance to oppression and injustice.

Israeli authorities have not immediately commented on the detentions or deportation proceedings.

The latest arrests follow a series of similar incidents in recent months. On Dec. 30, Israeli forces detained three international activists in the same area, holding them for several hours at a military base before transferring them to police custody. Earlier in December, two American activists were deported after challenging arrest and removal orders related to their presence at the Abu Hamam family’s land.

Rights groups and local residents say the measures are part of a broader effort to pressure Palestinian communities to leave areas targeted for settlement expansion linking parts of the central West Bank to the Jordan Valley.

Israel denies accusations of forcible displacement, saying military orders and enforcement actions are carried out for security and legal reasons.