Facing Expulsion

On Wednesday morning, 10 February 2021, Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort to Khirbet a-Tawamin in the South Hebron Hills and confiscated an outhouse. They then continued to the western part of Khirbet Susiya, where they confiscated a tent that was home to a family of six, including four minors. The forces went on to Khirbet a-Rakeez, where they confiscated an outhouse and three tents, two of which were being used to host activists following the grave injury of community resident Harun Abu ‘Aram (24) at the hands of Israeli security forces on 1 January 2021. The erection of the third tent was underway. From there, the forces continued to the community of Um al-Kheir and confiscated two gas pumps. Finally, they reached the community of Khallet al-Furn, where they dismantled and confiscated a shack under construction.

On Tuesday, 2 Feb. 2021, at around midday, four busloads of soldiers and dozens of heavy military vehicles, including tanks and armored personnel carriers, drove up to “Firing Zone 918” and parked along its boundaries. The next day, at around 1:00 A.M., the forces started shelling practice that lasted until the early morning hours. The explosions and sounds of gunfire caused great fear among area communities, and especially the neighboring community of Khashm a-Daraj.

At around 6:00 A.M., the forces entered the community of Khirbet Jenbah in Masafer Yatta, drove among homes and near the community school and trampled fields of wheat and barley. They damaged a cave that one of the families used for storage, as well as a power cable leading from the village’s solar panel system to the mosque and the medical clinic, a water pipe serving one of the families, and the pathway connecting the community to Khirbet Bir al-‘Eid. From there, the forces continued north, trampling the fields of residents of Khirbet Bir al-‘Eid and Khirbet Susiya. They left the area at around 2:30 P.M.

On Monday morning, 2 November 2020, Civil Administration personnel came with a Border Police escort and a bulldozer to the area of Ghzewi, east of Khirbet Susiya in the South Hebron Hills. The forces demolished a home under construction that was intended to house a family of seven – a mother and six children under the age of 18. The demolition was carried out by power of Military Order 1797.

On Tuesday, 11 August 2020, at around 7:00 A.M, Civil Administration personnel came with an escort of Border Police jeeps, a crane truck and a digger to Khirbet Susiya in the South Hebron Hills. The forces demolished a tent used for agricultural purposes owned by a resident and confiscated a small cement mixer and a cart intended for building a structure. The forces then continued to the area of Masafer Yatta, where they first went to Khirbet al-Mufaqarah. Upon the forces' arrival, the residents dismantled the tent they had erected a week earlier. From there, the forces continued to the community of Maghayir al-‘Abid, where they demolished a tent that served as a livestock pen. Then, they continued south to Khirbet al-Fakhit and demolished a residential tent, leaving seven people, three of them minors, homeless. The tent was donated by the EU after the CA had demolished the same family’s tent two months earlier.

On Friday morning, 12 June 2020, at around 9:00 A.M., dozens of settlers entered the Palestinian village of Khirbet Susiya. They began wandering among the houses and harassing the residents. After about a half an hour, soldiers arrived at the scene. They treated the residents dismissively and refused to remove the settlers. Only after some 15 Palestinian activists and residents began marching in protest towards the settlement of Susiya, did the soldiers remove the settlers from the village.


The military expelled the residents of Khirbet Susiya from their village in 1986 and they relocated to their farmland. Since then, the military and settlers have trying to drive them out of there, too.

On Wednesday, 19 February 2020, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a Border Police escort, two bulldozers and a crane truck to a school in Khirbet Susiya in the South Hebron Hills. The forces confiscated a caravan usually used by the school’s fourth grade, which has five students. Forty-seven of the community’s children attend grades one to nine at the school. The school has been under renovation for the past two weeks, and the caravan was removed from the area temporarily by the residents and used for storage. Border police officers violently pushed and arrested a resident who protested the confiscation. He was released the next day, after depositing bail.


The forces then moved on to the community of Birin, located north-east of the town of Yatta, where they confiscated a caravan donated earlier that year by a charity to house two elderly sisters.

At around 10:00 o’clock this morning (Thursday, 16 May 2019), Israeli Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort to the Palestinian community of Khirbet Susiya in the South Hebron Hills. They brought a bulldozer with them. For the fourth time, they dismantled and confiscated a tent that served as a sheep pen. The seasonal home of the family that owns the pen has been demolished four times over the last month.

On Tuesday, 16 April 2019, at about 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration officials accompanied by soldiers and Border Police officers, and equipped with a bulldozer, arrived at Khirbet Susiya in the South Hebron Hills. The forces dismantled and confiscated a tent erected around two weeks earlier that served as a seasonal home for a family of three. In the afternoon of the same day, the family erected a new tent and an additional tent serving as a pen for their flock.

Yesterday, Wednesday, 17 April 2019, at about 11:00 A.M., Civil Service officials returned to the site, again accompanied by soldiers and Border Police officers. They saw the two new tents, but left without demolishing them. Today, Thursday, 18 April 2019, at about 9:30 A.M., the forces returned with equipment, including two trucks and bulldozer. The forces confiscated both the new tents.

On 17 October 2018, at around 4:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel escorted by soldiers and Border Police officers arrived at the village of Khallet al-Maiya, east of the town of Yatta, Hebron District, with a bulldozer. The forces demolished a newly built home that was still vacant.The forces then proceeded south toward Khirbet Susiya, in the South Hebron Hills, where they destroyed a livestock pen, and from there to Khirbet Ghuwein al-Fauqa, south of the town of a-Samu’, where they destroyed another pen.