HEBRON, Thursday, May 4, 2023  (WAFA) – Israeli forces Thursday evening briefly detained two Palestinians in Alzoyedeen community, east of Yatta city in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, according to WAFA correspondent.

He said that the gun-toting Israeli soldiers briefly rounded up two people, including WAFA cameraman Mashhour Wihwah, from in southern West Bank community.

The notoriously-violent soldiers handcuffed Wahwah and put him in a military vehicle as he was covering the attacks of Israeli settlers, who have continued their terror and rampage against the community, which includes comprises Arab As-Saray’a, An-Najada, Al-Hathalin, and Ad-Deerat, as a means to expel them and seize their land to make room for colonial settlement construction.

On Wednesday, the soldiers detained three Palestinian shepherds as they were grazing their cattle and briefly held several international solidarity activists in the community.

In May 2022, Israel’s top court gave the army the green light to forcibly expel some 1,300 Palestinians living in twelve villages or hamlets making up the Masafer Yatta area, which relies heavily on animal husbandry as the main source of livelihood, marking one of the largest expulsions carried out by the State of Israel in recent decades.

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.