NewzIsrael displaces hundreds of Palestinians amid wave of demolitions in West Bank Israeli forces carried out a mass home demolition campaign in a village in the southern occupied West Bank on Wednesday, leaving dozens of Palestinians homeless. Military bulldozers and soldiers arrived in Janba, in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, early in the day and demolished 24 residential structures, 16 agricultural structures, 16 solar panels and 14 water tanks, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem. Around 176 people were displaced, including 85 children.
“We lost our home; we lost three rooms – the kitchen, the sheep shed and the bread oven,” Najah Jabarin told Middle East Eye. “We have nothing left.” Jabarin said her family of 11 had nowhere else to live, but intended to rebuild their home and remain in the area. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The demolitions come amid an escalation in the destruction of Palestinian homes in Masafer Yatta.
On 2 September, Israeli forces demolished almost all of Khirbet al-Taban, including 12 homes housing around 70 people, 28 of them children. 'The village is being subjected to ethnic cleansing' – Nasr Nawajaa, activist based in Masafer Yatta A week later, all five homes in Khirbet al-Fakhit were demolished, displacing 32 people. Livestock pens, water and solar energy facilities, and agricultural buildings were also destroyed.
Much of Masafer Yatta has been designated by Israel as a “firing zone” since the 1980s, placing Palestinians living there under longstanding demolition orders. However, the forced displacement of hundreds of people in the area has surged since October 2023. ‘I will not leave’ Nu’man Jabarin, who was born in Janba in 1969, said he had lived in the same cave as his parents and grandparents before him.
“Today, they wiped out everything I owned,” he told MEE. “I have no bathroom, no kitchen, no room and no cave left.” In addition to the home demolitions, Israeli forces also sealed caves used by residents in the village to store food and clothing…
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