Israeli authorities have ordered two foreign activists deported and barred from returning after an olive harvest near the village of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. Police described the pair as a father and son, though they did not say what nationality they hold. Police said the harvest was unapproved and uncoordinated, and that forces had told village residents beforehand not to go ahead with it. When IDF and police units arrived, the activists and Palestinian olive pickers allegedly fled into a military firing zone that is off limits. The two were arrested on suspicion of entering the zone illegally, then handed to the Population and Immigration Authority, which decided to deport them and ban their future entry.

Police also said the activists were arrested over "identification with" the Palestinian rights group al-Haq, which they say encouraged the harvest. Israel declared al-Haq a terrorist organization in 2021, a label the group rejects. Critics argue that these detentions undermine the right of Palestinians to harvest their own groves, while Israeli officials say they are preventing disorder and violence during the harvest season. On the same day, a larger group of volunteers, including U.S. congressional nominee Brad Lander, was detained and later released, and four American activists were given short exclusion orders from the West Bank instead of deportation. The facts of what happened in the groves are still contested, so the biggest question is who decided the harvest needed approval and why.