Shiʿb al-Butm (AKA Sha'ab al-Butum) and Umm Darit are small Palestinian herding communities located in the Masafer Yatta area of the South Hebron Hills in the West Bank, within Area C under full Israeli control. They have been the subject of repeated reports of harassment and pressure linked to nearby Israeli settler outposts and settler activity in the surrounding hills. Documented incidents include intimidation of shepherds, attacks on residents, damage to property and livestock, and restrictions on access to grazing land, which is essential for their livelihoods. Human rights organizations describe a broader pattern of sustained pressure, especially in recent years, involving both settlers and the broader security environment, contributing to what they characterize as a coercive context that increases the risk of displacement. This situation has been widely reported by UN bodies and human rights groups as part of a wider trend of escalating settler violence and land pressure in the South Hebron Hills.

Umm Darit is located near the village of Shi‘b al-Butum, and its residents suffer from frequent harassment and severe violence by settlers, who mostly come from the outpost “Droma,” established by the settler Amichai Shilo just a few hundred meters from the homes.

On February 2025, Amnesty International stated that "The Palestinian community of Shi’b Al-Butum in Masafer Yatta is at imminent risk of forcible transfer due to increasing state-backed settler attacks, as well as home demolitions, restrictions on access to land and illegal settlement expansion by the Israeli authorities, Amnesty International said today. This herding community, home to some 300 Palestinians, is one of the 12 communities that make up the area of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, and that for decades has been subjected to growing state-backed settler attacks and oppressive measures by the Israeli authorities. Since 7 October 2023 the situation has significantly worsened. Unless measures are immediately taken to hold violent settlers accountable, stop home demolitions and the expansion of nearby settlements, this community – like others in the area – will be forcibly displaced. The situation of the Shi’b Al-Butum community is a microcosm of what Palestinians, in particular herding and Bedouin communities, are facing across most of the occupied West Bank. Settlers trespass on their land, vandalize and steal their property, harass and physically assault them with total impunity.

Timeline of the events:

On February 2024, in the evening, settlers arrived at a family home in Umm Darit near Shaab al-Butum, attacked the family with stones, and attempted to run over shepherds and their sheep. Later, settlers in uniform arrived, and together they took the father and his son toward a nearby settlement on an ATV. Shortly afterward, dozens of armed settler-soldiers, including Bezalel Talia, entered Shaab al-Butum, moved through homes with weapons drawn, destroyed property, and reportedly detained another resident. The fate of the three taken residents remained unknown at the time.