Demolitions and confiscations in communities facing expulsion

Today, Wednesday, 11 August 2021, at around 7:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort, a bulldozer and digger to the community of Khirbet Khallet a-Dabe’ in Masafer Yatta, an area in the South Hebron Hills. The forces demolished a cistern used by area farmers to irrigate crops.
From there, the forces continued southeast to Khirbet al-Fakhit, where they demolished a livestock enclosure and an agricultural shack. The forces then returned to Khirbet Khallet a-Dabe’ and demolished a tin-roofed cement structure that housed a family of 11, including 5 minors.
The forces then continued to the Za’atut area, east of the village of al-Buweib, where they destroyed a cement fence erected by the residents around a farm under construction, as well as a tent used by the workers and two cisterns.

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

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

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.

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.

This morning, Wednesday, 4 Aug. 2021, at around 7:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort, laborers, a bulldozer and a crane truck to the community of Khirbet Ibziq in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces dismantled and confiscated structures owned by 3 families numbering 25 people in total, 17 of them minors: 4 residential tents, 7 tents used as livestock enclosures and 3 livestock pens. The forces also demolished two generators, two solar panels, parts of a third solar panel and two cars belonging to community residents.

The families were left homeless under the blazing sun in the height of a heat wave.

On Thursday, 15 July 2021, at around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort, a bulldozer, and a crane truck to an area of Humsah al-Foqa, where nine families who were expelled from their homes last week have relocated for the time being. The forces confiscated a tent put up by one of the families, numbering 11 people, including six minors, at a certain distance from the other tents.

Later that day, at around 9:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort and a bulldozer to the village of Furush Beit Dajan in the Jordan Valley, where they demolished a pool set up by the local council about a year ago to provide residents with water for domestic and agricultural use. The floodwaters created during the demolition hit nearby livestock enclosures, killing one of the rams.

On Wednesday, 14 July 2021, at around 5:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort and 10 crane trucks to the al-Qabun area, where some residents of the Ras a-Tin community stay during the summer. The site is about two kilometers north of the community’s permanent residence, which lies east of Ramallah. The forces declared the area a closed military zone, denied access to journalists, and began dismantling and confiscated 16 residential structures, 19 livestock enclosures, 45 solar panels, seven mobile water containers, and two tractors belonging to 13 families, numbering 84 people in total, including 54 minors.

Filmed by: Fares K'aabneh

On Monday, 12 July 2021, at around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort and three bulldozers to the town of Bani Na’im in Hebron District. The forces demolished about 200 square meters of agricultural terraces, a fence put up at the village entrance and a shed used for storing agricultural equipment. From there, the forces continued south to the communities of Khirbet Um Qusa and ‘Abdiyeh in the Um Daraj area. They confiscated a prefab set up by residents, which served as a clinic run by Doctors Without Borders, serving over 400 residents.

At the same time, at around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort and a bulldozer to the agricultural area of Bardalah Marah, which extends about a kilometer from the Bardalah village center, and demolished an agricultural pool. The pool was built in cooperation between the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, and was used to irrigate the crops of several area farmers.

These are not exceptional cases. Rather, they are part of Israel’s routine harassment of Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills and northern Jordan Valley, in a bid to expel them from their homes and area of residence.

On Wednesday, July 7, 2021, around 8:00 A.M., soldiers and Civil Administration staff arrived at the community of Khirbet Humsah in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces declared the area a closed military zone and denied journalists, human rights activists and diplomats access. The forces dismantled nine tents and four huts used as residences, as well as 17 agricultural structures, all together belonging to nine families with a total of 61 members, including 34 minors. The forces also destroyed four water tanks, water lines, fencing and farming equipment. The residents’ belongings were loaded onto trucks that transported them to the ‘Ein Shibli community, which lies west of Khirbet Humsah. Community members fled to the mountains with their flocks, leaving the buses brought in to forcibly relocate them to ‘Ein Shibli empty.

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In the morning hours of Thursday, 24 June 2021, Civil Administration personnel escorted by soldiers and equipped with a bulldozer came to the area of Badu a-Mu’arrajat-East, where the settlement of Mevo'ot Jericho was established. They destroyed a tin structure with a concrete floor that served as a food kiosk and was owned by a resident of the community. The forces also uprooted the kiosk’s road sign and disconnected the structure from electricity. On 16 June 2021, the Civil Administration had issued the kiosk owner a demolition order.

The owner built the kiosk in February 2021 to support his family, which includes six minors.

On 23 June 2021, at around 6:00 AM, soldiers came with a bulldozer to the Masafer Yatta area in the South Hebron Hills, and dug ditches in several parts of a 2 k”m long dirt road that connects Masafer Yatta to the town Yatta and to the surrounding villages. In addition, the security forces destroyed a water line that served around 12 communities in the area, leaving dozens of families without water supply.

On 9 June 2021, the military destroyed roads and a water line that served 15 families in Masafer Yatta.

The military repeatedly blocks roads and destroys water supply infrastructure in this area, as part of the authorities’ routine harassment of Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills, particularly in Masafer Yatta, in its bid to expel them from their homes and from the area in which they reside.

On 12 June 2021, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military, Israel Police and Border Police escort, as well as a crane truck, to the community of Badu al-Mu’arrajat (Dar Faza’) in the Jordan Valley. The forces dismantled and confiscated three tents that were home to two families numbering 17 people in total, including 9 children. They also demolished a livestock pen belonging to one of the families.


On 7 June 2021, the Civil Administration dismantled and confiscated residential structures three kilometers south of the community, leaving 37 people, including 24 minors.

On Wednesday, 9 June 2021, at around 8:00 A.M., soldiers came with a D9 bulldozer to the Masafer Yatta area in the South Hebron Hills. The forces destroyed a 500-meter-long section of road leading to the community of She’b al-Batum, some of which was paved with concrete, as well as a 500-meter-long dirt road leading to Khirbet al-Mufaqarah. They also destroyed a water pipe that serves the community of al-Fakhit, where 15 families live, which the residents later repaired.

The military has blocked the roads leading to She’b al-Batum several times, the last of which was in March 2020, but the residents removed the roadblocks. Blocking roads and destroying pipelines is part of Israel’s routine harassment of Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills, and in Masafer Yatta in particular, in its bid to expel them from the area and from their homes.

On Tuesday, 8 June 2021, in the early morning hours, Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort and a bulldozer to the village of a-Rakeez in the South Hebron Hills. The forces demolished an uncovered cement structure used for agricultural storage that belongs to one of the village residents.


From there, the forces continued northeast to the village of a-Tuwani, where they demolished a tent used by one of the residents as a livestock enclosure.