HEBRON, Friday, May 20, 2022 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Thursday evening seized the makeshift dwellings of two families in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, according to a local activist.

Rateb al-Jbour said that several military vehicles stormed al-Markez community, where soldiers dragged the 12-member family of Mahmoud Ali Najjar out of their makeshift dwellings into the open and eventually confiscated the dwellings.

He added that Israeli forces had razed the house of the Najjar family on May 11.

Al-Markez is one of 12 hamlets making up the Masafer Yatta, which rely heavily on animal husbandry as the main source of livelihood.

Israel’s High Court recently ruled in favor of the forcible displacement of some 1,300 Palestinians living in twelve villages or hamlets, marking one of the largest expulsions carried out by the State of Israel in recent decades.

The court’s move effectively leads to the confiscation of over 35,000 dunam of land, where agricultural communities have lived for generations, to consolidate colonial settlement construction in the area.

Located in Area C of the West Bank, under full Israeli administrative and military control, the area has been subjected to repeated Israeli violations by settlers and soldiers targeting their main source of living - livestock.

It has been designated as a closed Israeli military zone for training since 1980s and accordingly referred to as Firing Zone 918.

Israeli violations against the area include demolition of animal barns, homes and residential structures. Issuance of construction permits by Israel to local Palestinians in the area is non-existent.

K.F.