Israeli outposts have proliferated in the West Bank since Oct. 7, analysis shows. Palestinians fear annexation could be next.

Jihad Suleiman Al-Sawafta, 46, has lived on his farm in the occupied West Bank village of Bardala his entire life. But when Israeli settlers showed up in December, Al-Sawafta said his land, and his livelihood, shrank to a fraction of its former self.

“The settlers brought another settler here and placed him in our area. The Israelis built a road that separates us from grazing and agricultural areas, and the settlers don’t allow us to farm on them,” he told CNN.

“They crowded the area. They took thousands of dunams (1,000 square meters) from Bardala and its grazing lands,” he said, referring to his Palestinian town in the northern part of the West Bank. He added that the Jordan Valley, a fertile strip of land long considered the West Bank’s breadbasket, had been “largely emptied”of its Palestinian residents.

Israeli forces were overseeing the paving of a new road during CNN’s visit in late January. Al-Sawafta said the military maintains a 24-hour presence, providing security for settlers, making it dangerous for him to cross and tend the crops he planted in nearby fields.