JORDAN VALLEY, June 5, 2018 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Tuesday forcefully expelled five Palestinian families from their homes to carry out military drills in Humsa al-Fawqa village, southeast of Tubas, in the northern Jordan Valleys, said a local activist.

Local activist Aref Daraghmeh told WAFA that Israeli forces raided Khirbet Humsa al-Fawqa village and expelled five families, including women and children, sending them several kilometers away from their tents to conduct military drills.

Israeli forces had reportedly notified the families about the planned eviction a day earlier, ordering them to leave their tent homes and stay away from the area from 6:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. as the military drills take place.

The Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea make up approximately 30% of the West Bank and are considered the most significant Palestinian land reserves, according to the Israeli Rights group B’Tselem.

Israel continues to pursue various measures to annex this territory de facto since 1967, targeting to ban territorial contiguity between a future Palestinian state and the rest of the Arab world.

Meanwhile, Israel exploits the resources of the area and generates profit by allocating generous tracts of land and water resources to Israeli settlements.

International rights organizations have considered the continuation of the Israeli campaign, which targets Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, whether though confiscations, demolitions or evictions under the pretext of holding military exercises, as a violation of international humanitarian law.

K.T./ K.F.