TUBAS, May 8, 2018 (WAFA) – The Israeli army ordered five Palestinian families to leave their homes in Hamsa al-Foqa in the northern Jordan Valley because the Israel military intends to carry out exercises in that area, a local activist said on Tuesday.

Aref Daraghmeh, a rights activist, said five families have been ordered to stay away from their homes so Israeli military can carry out its exercises in the area.

Israeli forces notified the families to leave their homes on April 24, May 1 and May 8 from six in the morning till two in the afternoon.

Rights groups said that the military drills are actually intended to drive Palestinians out of their homes and out of the occupied Jordan Valley as a whole, which Israel hopes to one day annex and house it with Jewish settlers.

C.K./M.K.