Israeli armored tanks taking part in military drills near the village of Khirbet Ibzeiq in the Jordan Valley, January 13, 2019.

TUBAS, Sunday, January 13, 2019 (WAFA) – Israeli forces on Sunday evicted 13 Palestinian families from their homes in the village of Khirbet Ibzeiq, to the northeast of Tubas in the Jordan Valley region, the occupied West Bank, making way for military training using heavy armored tanks.

Aref Daraghmeh, who monitors Israeli violations in the area, said Israeli forces stormed the village and forced 13 families out of their homes for the next 24 hours for military training in the area.

Palestinian residents of the Jordan Valley regularly face evictions due to Israeli military exercises on or near their land. Only last month, Israeli forces evicted the village’s population three times for the same purpose.

The majority of the Jordan Valley is under full Israeli military control, and at least 44 percent of the total land in the Jordan Valley has been appropriated by Israeli forces for military exercises.

Almost all Palestinian communities in the region rely in their livelihood on grazing flocks and growing crops on land next to their homes. Extensive damage to farmland and grazing areas due to gunfire and the passage of tanks and military vehicles through the fields jeopardizes the communities’ ability to survive in the area.

M.N