On Monday, 19 July 2022, at around 10:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort, a bulldozer, crane and pickup truck with a trailer at the area of ‘Ein al-Beida in the community of al-Jawaya, southeast of the town of Yatta in the South Hebron Hills. The forces demolished the home of a family of three, demolished and confiscated three tents, two of which were used as livestock enclosures and one as a rent tent, and confiscated three water containers owned by shepherds.
The community was established in the late 1960s by residents that Israel had expelled from the South Hebron Hills, on private lands owned by the residents of the villages of Kfar Malek and al-Mughayir. In 2020, about 120 people lived in the village and made a living by herding sheep. Over the next two years, additional seasonal herding communities were established near it, al-Kabun and Wadi a-Dahlia, and the total number of residents in these communities reached 280. In 1975, the settlement of Kochav HaShahar was established nearby. Over the years, the residents of the community suffered harassment by Israeli authorities, including the demolition of the homes of six families in 2021. In 2018, the outpost "Micha's Farm" was established two kilometers away from the community. Since then, the members of the community have suffered from verbal abuse, harassment, theft, and vandalism of property. In 2020, the residents of the community established a school for their children, who had until then been forced to walk a long distance to the schools in al-Mughayir, but the Civil Administration issued demolition orders that same year and confiscated equipment intended for the expansion of the school, including chairs used by the students, just four days after the beginning of the school year. The violence increased in 2022 under the auspices of the military and, in the beginning of July of that year, the residents of the community decided to leave their place of residence after realizing that they would no longer be able to make a living from shepherding in this area and that their lives were in danger. Read more...
On 7 July 2022, at around midday, Jordan Valley Settlement Council personnel arrived with a military and Israel Police escort and a garbage truck to two vegetable stalls along Route 60, near the villages of ‘Ein al-Beida and Bardalah, and dumped the goods from the stalls, belonging to three Palestinian area residents, into the truck.
On Tuesday, 5 July 2022, at around 12:30 P.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort and equipped with a bulldozer at the community of Birin, northeast of the town of Yatta in Hebron District. The forces destroyed agricultural land, uprooted 10 trees and demolished a fence and two water containers used for irrigation.
On Monday, 4 July 2022, at around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort and equipped with three bulldozers at the community of Khirbet Um Qusa in the South Hebron Hills and demolished the home of a family of 15, including 10 minors, as well as a house under construction slated to house a family of seven, including five minors. From there, the forces continued to the Za’atut area, east of the village of al-Buweib, where they dmeolished a cistern and fundations of an agricultural structure that was demolished by the Civil Adiministation on 30 June 2022.
On Thursday, 30 June 2022, at around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort from the Um al-Kheir area to the village of a-Rifa’iya, east of the town of Yatta. The forces demolished an unused agricultural structure belonging to a resident of Hebron. The forces then continued east to the Za’atut area, east of the village of al-Buweib, where they demolished another unused agricultural structure belonging to a resident of Yatta. During the demolition, the Israel Police erected a flying checkpoint on the road between the neighborhood of Khalet al-Hajar and the central part of the village of al-Buweib and confiscated an unlicensed car.
On Wednesday, 29 June 2022, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with military escort at the current place of residence of the Khirbet Humsah al-Foqa community in the northern Jordan Valley, which was destroyed by Israel in July 2021. The forces delivered six families, numbering 38 people in total, including 23 minors, orders instructing them to evacuate their homes for military training for three consecutive days: on 4 July, between 7:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M.; on July 5, between 7:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M; and on July 6, Between 6:00 A.M. and 11:00 A.M. Military training in the communities’ territory is a deliberate harassment of their residents in an attempt to drive them out of the area. The last evacuation of community residents on the pretext of training occurred in April 2021.
On Monday, 27 June 2022, at around 7:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and a bulldozer at the community of Khirbet Ibziq in the northern Jordan Valley. The force demolished two residential tents, a kitchen tent and a tabun (traditional oven) belonging to two families numbering 15 people in total, including 11 eleven minors. The families live in the community nine months a year and leave for the summer. The force also demolished two tents that served as livestock pens, a tent used as a chicken coop, a tent used for storage and five tents used as tabuns, owned by four other families from the community that also leave for the summer. In addition, the force demolished a rainwater cistern, a trailer, a water container and a hospitality tent the head of the council put up for community members to use, as well as uprooting trees.
After Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled the state can expel some 1,000 Palestinians from their homes in an area it designated “Firing Zone 918” in Masafer Yatta, the South Hebron Hills, the military informed the Palestinian DCO that troops will be training in the area for a month, every Tuesday and Wednesday, from 12:00 to 6:00 P.M. On the morning of 21 June 2022, the military placed targets around the community of Khirbet al-Maghaz. Some of the targets were placed on a water container, on a tractor wagon and on sheaves of straw. At around 3:00 P.M., two Merkava tanks approached the community along with an infantry troop. The force advanced slowly, with the tanks emitting blue camouflage smoke and damaging farmland. When it was about 100 to 150 meters from the community, it turned back and left. On 22 June 2022, at around 12:00 P.M., a military force left a base within Israel’s borders and headed northeast, arriving at an area that lies between the communities of Khirbet al-Markaz and Khirbet Jenbah in Masafer Yatta. Upon arrival, the force, which included tanks and two bulldozers, stayed motionless for some three hours. It then advanced into farmland and entered a harvested wheat field. Community residents heard explosions, apparently caused by shelling from the tanks. The force then advanced east to the outskirts of Khirbet al-Fakhit, where it stopped for about 15 minutes, during which about 20 infantry soldiers trained in the fields with a helicopter flying low above them. The soldiers destroyed part of a wheat field that had not yet been harvested. Several activists protested the training. Soldiers pushed some of them, knocking them to the ground. Two Israeli activists were detained for about 15 minutes.
1 June 2022Ein al-Meyteh (Hamam al-Maleh), al-Burj (Hamam al-Maleh), al-'Aqabah
On Wednesday, 1 June 2022, at around 5:00 A.M., members of the Jordan Valley settlement council went to the villages of ‘Ein al-Meyteh, al-Burj and al-‘Aqabah and the Ihmeir area, all in the Jordan Valley, with a military escort and tow trucks. The forces confiscated 22 vehicles, nine of them agricultural, and two trailer water tanks, on the pretext that they had been brought into Firing Zone 900 without a permit.On 15 May 2022, Jordan Valley settlement council staff and soldiers stopped Palestinian farmers from harvesting their crops near the communities of Khirbet al-Malih and Khirbet Um al-Jamal in the Jordan Valley, detained them and seized vehicles.
On Wednesday, 1 June 2022, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort and equipped with two bulldozers at Khirbet al-Fakhit in Masafer Yatta. The forces demolished the homes of two families numbering 13 people in total, including seven minors, and two storage sheds for fodder and farming equipment, which were all rebuilt after being demolished by the Civil Administration on 11 May 2022. From there, the forces continued to Khirbet al-Markaz in Masafer Yatta, where they demolished the homes of two families numbering eight people in total, including two minors, which were also rebuilt after being demolished by the by the Civil Administration on 11 May 2022. On 4 May 2021, Israel’s High Court of Justice approved the forcible transfer of more than 1,000 residents of the Masafer Yatta area after the military declared their area of residence as “Firing Zone 918.”
In the early afternoon of Tuesday, 31 May 2022, Jordan Valley settlement council staff arrived with a military escort in Kh. Humsah al-Foqa in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces confiscated a car, a tractor and welding equipment from farmers who were harvesting their crops, on the pretext that the area is off limits.
Demolition of homes in the town of Sa’ir. Photo by Nasser Nawaj’ah, B’Tselem, 5 August 2021
75 People, 47 of them minors, were left homeless by the demolitions
5 August 2021: Israel demolishes homes and agricultural structures near Jericho and Hebron
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Residents of the al-Ka’abneh Mu’arrajat community after the demolition. Photo by Iyad Hadad, B’Tselem, 5 August 2021
On Thursday morning, 5 August 2021, at around 6:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort and a crane truck to the al-Ka’abneh community in Badu al-Mu’arrajat, west of Jericho. The forces dismantled and confiscated two tents that were home to a family of 10, including six minors, as well as two livestock pens belonging to the family. On 7 June 2021, the Civil Administration demolished structures owned by the family and by the father’s two brothers.
From there, the forces continued to another residential compound of the al-Ka’abneh tribe, where they demolished a shack that was home to 17 people, including 14 minors, and razed land around the house.
The forces then continued to the Ramon al-Mu’arrajat area. There, they demolished four ancient wells renovated in 2015 with funding by the Italian nonprofit GVC. The wells were used by 12 local families for drinking and farming.
That morning, around 7:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel also came with a military and Border Police escort and four bulldozers to the town of Sa’ir in Hebron District, where they demolished two two-story residential buildings, both unoccupied. At the end of the demolition, young Palestinians began throwing stones at the soldiers and police officers, who hurled tear gas canisters and fired rubber-coated metal bullets at them.
4 August 2021: Israel demolishes homes, shops and agricultural structures in Jordan Valley, near Jerusalem and in Sabastiya
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Demolitions in Hizma. Photo by Iyad Hadad, B’Tselem, 5 August 2021
On Wednesday, 4 August 2021, at 3:00 A.M., Jerusalem Municipality personnel came with a Border Police escort, a bulldozer and cranes to the village of Hizma northeast of Jerusalem, which lies mostly within Area C. The forces demolished 13 shops made of concrete with tin roofs, including a hardware store, an auto parts shop and a grocery store. They also demolished the fence of a nearby house and a car wash.
At 11:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort and a bulldozer to the western side of Sabastiya, a town that lies northwest of Nablus. The forces demolished a tin-roofed concrete structure used for agricultural storage and a room used as a rest stop for farmers.
At midday, after carrying out demolitions in Khirbet Ibziq in the northern Jordan Valley, the forces continued south to the community of Zra’ ‘Awad (al-Mukasar), where they demolished a tin-roofed concrete structure belonging to a family of 15, including six minors.
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The family’s belongings after the demolition in al-Qanub. Photo by Nasser Nawaj’ah, B’Tselem, 4 August 2021
At around midday, Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort and a truck to the al-Qanub area, east of Sa’ir in Hebron District. They demolished a tent belonging to a family of eight, including four minors, and a water container for livestock.
At around 1:30 P.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort to the Wadi Rahal area south of Bethlehem and demolished a tin-rooefd structure used for storage and as a rest stop for farmers.
