Ethnic cleansing of Palestinian communities and lone families in the West Bank (62 communities as of 22 Apr 2026)

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Demolitions and confiscations in communities facing expulsion

Thousands of people – residents of dozens of Palestinian communities located throughout Area C, the West Bank – face imminent expulsion by Israeli authorities on a variety of pretexts. The live blog will pool the regular updates we get from B’Tselem field researchers regarding the communities and any attempts by authorities to expel them. Click on the number of a community cluster and then on the tent icon marked on the map for further information about communities facing the risk of expulsion.

The information in the blog reflects the latest state affairs known to us and is updated as we receive new data from the field. For more on the communities facing expulsion, click here.
16 Jul 2023

Widady a-Tahta (South Zanutah), South Hebron Hills: Another Palestinian community forcibly transferred

 On Sunday, 16 July 2023, members of the Widady a -Tahta community were forced to abandon their place of residence in fear for their lives due to state-backed settler violence and other abuses carried out by the Israeli authorities. 

Residents of the community – who belong to the extended Abu ‘Awad family and number 20 people in total, including 12 minors – loaded all their belongings onto trucks and left the family’s compound, where they lived for 50 years.  

Khirbet Widady consisted of two communities until now, Khirbet Widady a-Tahta and Khirbet Widaday a-Foqa, where five families numbering 22 people in total, including 13 minors, remain. These communities – like all the communities Israel is working to expel – have never been connected to the water and electricity grids. They have relied on water stored in cisterns and, in recent years, acquired solar panels that provide limited electricity. 

Approximately two years ago, Israeli settlers built an outpost roughly 500 meters away from the Abu-‘Awad family homes in Widady a-Tahta, and ever since – with the help of Israeli soldiers – have tried to prevent them from grazing their flock in the pasturelands surrounding their homes, by way of – among other things – flying drones that scare the sheep and disperse them. 

At the end of 2022, B’Tselem documented two settler attacks on the family’s homes (24 December 2022; 31 December 2022).  



In March 2023, B’Tselem documented two more attacks, one in the presence of an Israeli soldier (4 March 2023; 11 March 2023). 

Additionally, about a year ago, the Civil Administration issued demolition orders for all structures in the compound, which consist of three homes and one livestock enclosure. 

On Tuesday, 27 June 2023, at approximately 4:00 P.M., two Israeli settlers arrived at the community and threatened Salah Abu ‘Awad (27) with handguns while he was grazing his flock near his home. Abu ‘Awad fled, leaving the flock behind, and watched from a distance as the settlers led his sheep toward Route 60. He called other family members for help, and when the settlers saw them, they left the flock and went toward their outpost. The family brought the flock back to their community. When Abu ‘Awad reported the incident to the police, the officers claimed they could not assist him because the community was living on leased land that did not belong to its residents. 

Immediately following the incident and in the wake of the police’s response, the Abu ‘Awad family decided that remaining at the site put their lives at risk and began preparations to leave. Read more...



 

More updates:

31 May 2026
Civil Administration personnel dismantling the tents. Still from video footage, courtesy of local residents

Israel dismantled and confiscated three residential tents and agricultural structures in the village of al-Jiftlik

On Sunday, 31 May 2026, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and two trucks at the village of Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley, and dismantled and confiscated three residential tents owned by a family of 19, including 12 minors. The forces also dismantled and confiscated two tents used as a sheep enclosure and a sheepfold, five water tanks, and two outhouses.

Direct link to this update.
10 May 2026

Israel demolished two agricultural structures in the village of Khashm a-Daraj in the South Hebron Hills

On Sunday, 10 May 2026, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort and a digger at the village of Khashm a-Daraj in the South Hebron Hills, and demolished a single-room agricultural structure and a hut used as a sheep enclosure.

Direct link to this update.
7 May 2026
Greenhouses taken down in Bardalah, 7 May 2026 Photo: 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem
Greenhouses taken down in Bardalah, 7 May 2026 Photo: 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem, A Civil Administration bulldozer demolishing a greenhouse in Bardalah, 7 May 2026. Still from video footage, 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem

Israel demolished greenhouses in the village of Bardalah in the Jordan Valley

On Thursday, 7 May 2026, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and two diggers at the village of Bardalah in the Jordan Valley and demolished five vegetable and fruit greenhouses. The owners dismantled two additional greenhouses themselves to avoid demolition by Civil Administration personnel.

Direct link to this update.
7 May 2026
Greenhouses taken down in Bardalah, 7 May 2026 Photo: 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem
Greenhouses taken down in Bardalah, 7 May 2026 Photo: 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem, A Civil Administration bulldozer demolishing a greenhouse in Bardalah, 7 May 2026. Still from video footage, 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem

Israel demolished greenhouses in the village of Bardalah in the Jordan Valley

On Thursday, 7 May 2026, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and two diggers at the village of Bardalah in the Jordan Valley and demolished five vegetable and fruit greenhouses. The owners dismantled two additional greenhouses themselves to avoid demolition by Civil Administration personnel.

Direct link to this update.
5 May 2026
The demolition of the family home in Maghazi Jaba’. Still from video footage, 'Amer 'Aruri, B'Tselem
The demolition of the family home in Maghazi Jaba’. Still from video footage, 'Amer 'Aruri, B'Tselem

Israel demolished a home in the community of Maghazi Jaba’, leaving a family of 10 homeless

On Tuesday, 5 May 2026, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and a digger at the community of Maghazi Jaba’, and demolished an old stone structure housing a family of eight, including five minors, leaving them homeless.

Direct link to this update.
16 Apr 2026
The vacation home before it was destroyed. Photo: 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem
The vacation home before it was destroyed. Photo: 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem, The ruins of the vacation home. Photo: 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem

Israel demolished a vacation home in the village of 'Ein a-Duyuk a-Tahta in the Jordan Valley

On Thursday, 16 April 2026, at around 7:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and diggers at the village of 'Ein a-Duyuk a-Tahta, west of Jericho, and demolished a two-story vacation home owned by a resident of East Jerusalem.

Direct link to this update.
16 Apr 2026
The vacation home before it was destroyed. Photo: 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem
The vacation home before it was destroyed. Photo: 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem, The ruins of the vacation home. Photo: 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem

Israel demolished a vacation home in the village of 'Ein a-Duyuk a-Tahta in the Jordan Valley

On Thursday, 16 April 2026, at around 7:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and diggers at the village of 'Ein a-Duyuk a-Tahta, west of Jericho, and demolished a two-story vacation home owned by a resident of East Jerusalem.

Direct link to this update.
12 Apr 2026

Israel demolished two residential tents, leaving a family of 16 homeless for the third time

On Sunday, 12 April 2026, Civil Administration personnel arrived with an Israel Police and Border Police escort and a truck at the neighborhood of Khirbet Qalqas in southern Hebron. They dismantled and confiscated two tents set up by a family of 16, including 10 minors, after the Civil Administration demolished their home in February, and then dismantled and confiscated the tents they had set up in March, leaving them homeless for the third time.

Direct link to this update.
24 Mar 2026

Israel demolished agricultural structures in Khirbet Jamrurah

On Tuesday, 24 March 2026, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and a digger at Khirbet Jamrurah, northwest of Hebron, and demolished an agricultural single-room structure, a water cistern, a sheepfold, and a storage shed owned by a family of six.

Direct link to this update.
22 Mar 2026

Israel demolished a house, leaving a family of 10 homeless

On Sunday, 22 March 26, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and a digger at Khirbet al-Marajim, southwest of Duma, Nablus District, demolished a house and left a family of 10, including eight minors, homeless.

Direct link to this update.
16 Mar 2026
A Civil Administration bulldozer demolishing the house. Photo: ‘Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem
A Civil Administration bulldozer demolishing the house. Photo: ‘Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem

Israel demolished the home and property of the last remaining family in the community of Fasayil al-Wusta, forcibly transferring them

On Monday morning, 16 March 2026, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort, a digger and a bulldozer, at the community of Fasayil al-Wusta in the Jordan Valley. The forces demolished the home of the last remaining family in the community, which numbers a total of seven people, including four children. The other families in the community were forced to leave on 6 March 2026 following attacks and harassment by settlers.

The forces also demolished a tent used to host human rights activists, an outhouse, a tent the family used as a livestock enclosure, a chicken coop, about 12 troughs, six water tanks, a fence and an oven.

Direct link to this update.
12 Mar 2026

Israel demolished residential tents in Khirbet Qalqas, leaving a family of 16 homeless again

On Thursday, 12 March 2026, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort and a truck at the Khirbet Qalqas neighborhood in southern Hebron. The Israeli forces dismantled and confiscated five residential tents set up by a family of 16, including 10 minors, whose home Israel demolished in February, leaving them homeless again.

Direct link to this update.
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Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank.
B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.