So far, according to media reports, 700 hectares of land - mostly agricultural and grazing - have been burned at an estimated NIS 700,000 in damage to area farmers.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, told Hadashot, “My heart breaks to see thousands of dunams of farmland and pastures being burned.”
He demanded that the matter be investigated.
“The farmers who give their lives to work the land and make the desert bloom cannot be the last in the food chain,” he said. “We must help them and stop the arson."
Residents shared video and images of the fire on social media.
Iyar Segal, a resident of the Itamar hills, expressed similar sentiments. He told Hadashot that, “We expect the Civil Administration, the IDF and the police to catch the perpetrators and provide immediate assistance to the farmers and other residents.”
Earlier this week, extremists threw what was believed to be a Molotov cocktail at a Cherry tree orchard in Kfar Etzion in the West Bank known as the Mukhtar’s Saddle causing a fire and damage.