HEBRON, June 29, 2025 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation authorities issued notices to the Masafer Yatta village council, south of Hebron, declaring the seizure of hundreds of dunums of Palestinian-owned land and several key roads to advance the expansion of colonial settlements and link them to the settler road network.
Nidal Abu Aram, head of the Masafer Yatta village council, told WAFA that the occupation authorities issued a series of orders to seize agricultural lands and bar Palestinian residents from accessing or using the land, especially roads that connect the area’s village communities.
According to the notices, the occupation has seized the road linking the villages of Jinba and Bir al-‘Id, cutting off farmers and residents from hundreds of dunums of land. The move aims to link the colony of Mitzpe Yair to bypass Road 317, paving the way for further expansion of the colonial settlement at the expense of Palestinian lands.
One of the orders also targets the road linking the Wadi Ma’in and Umm al-Shaqhan areas, and includes the appropriation of approximately three dunums of land belonging to a local family under the pretext of “military use.” This move will effectively bar the family from accessing nearly 700 dunums of olive groves.
In a related development, the occupation authorities issued another notice to confiscate large areas of land for the construction of a new settler road near the Giv’at Hanan colony, established illegally about four years ago on lands belonging to a Palestinian family.
The orders also include the seizure of an agricultural road in the Tha‘ala area to link the Havat Ma’on colony with bypass Road 317, along with the confiscation of land belonging to a Palestinian family.
Abu Aram noted that the rate of land seizures in Masafer Yatta has significantly accelerated since the onset of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. He warned that the occupation is working to impose a new reality on the ground by expanding colonial settlements and fragmenting Palestinian villages and communities across the region.
T.R.
