Demolitions and confiscations in communities facing expulsion

On Tuesday, 10 Dec. 2024, Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort and two diggers to the community of Khirbet al-Fakhit in the South Hebron Hills. The force demolished two shacks and a tent that were home to a family of six people, five of them minors, leaving the family homeless. The force also demolished the family's outhouse.

On Tuesday, 10 Dec. 2024, Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort and three diggers to Khirbet a-Twayel in the Jordan Valley District. The force demolished 10 homes, leaving 10 families totaling 47 people, 24 of them minors, homeless. The force also demolished nine sheep pens, two tents used to store animal feed, five water tanks and two fences, belonging to eight of the families.

On Wednesday, 27 Nov. 2024, around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with people from the settlement council to the area of Khirbet Humsa a-Tahta in the Jordan Valley and confiscated a cart with solar panels. The officials ordered the owner to drag the cart to a nearby military base using a tractor belonging to another resident of the community.

On 25 November 2024, Civil Administration personnel, accompanied by soldiers and equipped with an excavator and a bulldozer, arrived in the al-Burj area in the northern Jordan Valley and demolished the home of a family of eight, including four minors.

On Monday, 18 Nov. 2024, around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and equipped with a digger at the community of Khirbet Um al-Jamal in the northern Jordan Valley and demolished the homes of five families totaling 30 people, including 17 minors. The families were forced to abandon their homes on 12 Aug. 2024 along with seven other families for fear of settler violence. All the structures were donated by the humanitarian organization ACF.

On Monday, 13 Nov. 2024, around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort and two diggers to the village of Kardalah in the Jordan Valley and demolished an almost completed house intended for a couple to live in.

On Wednesday, 13 November 2024, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and a crane at the Palestinian community of Bardala in the Jordan Valley. The forces dismantled and confiscated a pre-fab that served as a home for a family of five, including three minors, who had leased land in the village and moved there.

On Monday, 11 November 2024, in the early morning hours, Civil Administration personnel, arrived with a military escort at the community of Jaba’ al-’Ara’reh, northeast of Jerusalem, and demolished two structures that were used as a mosque and a diwan (a room used for community gatherings), six shacks used as sheepfolds and a garage.

On Wednesday, 6 November 2024, Civil Administration personnel, escorted by soldiers and equipped with a digger, arrived at the village of al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley and demolished a house intended to serve as a home for a couple. The house had not yet been inhabited.

On Wednesday, 6 Nov. 2024, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and equipped with a digger in the community of a-Rakeez in Masafer Yatta, the South Hebron Hills, and demolished a home belonging to a family of six, including four minors. The family was left homeless.

On Monday, 4 November 2024, around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel, escorted by soldiers and equipped with a digger, arrived in the area of al-Matar, east of Jericho, and demolished a vacation home owned by a resident of East Jerusalem, along with the surrounding fence. The forces also demolished a sheep pen and its surrounding fence, which were owned by a local resident.

On Saturday, 19 October 2024, a group of five settlers, some armed, arrived with three dogs at the community of Jurat al-Kheil. The hamlet, which lies northwest of Hebron and has 20 structures, is home to 10 families, numbering 40 people in total, including 16 minors. One of the settlers pointed his gun at a community resident’s head and threatened to shoot him and others if they did not leave permanently. A dog the settlers set on the residents bit another man, who was taken for treatment in the city of Halhul.

The next day, Sunday, 20 October 2024, around 7:00 A.M., about 20 settlers arrived at the community on foot, with more arriving in two cars. Fearing for their lives, the entire community fled towards the village of Sa’ir. One member watched the community from a nearby hill and saw the settlers going around the houses and smashing their windows. He tried to call the police several times, but no officers arrived. The settlers left around noon, at which point some residents returned to the community and saw the windows had, in fact, been smashed and that the settlers had also stolen some iron sheeting installed to protect the windows and farming equipment. After the returning residents arrived at the community, the settlers came back in a car, forcing the residents to flee once more and watch from afar as the settlers walked around the houses, destroying property. The settlers stayed in the area all night.

On Tuesday, 22 October 2024, some residents returned to the community and discovered that the settlers had destroyed three of the residential buildings, damaged the roofs of all remaining 17 structures, and cut down and uprooted dozens of olive trees and grapevines. Shortly after their arrival, settlers returned in two cars, one belonging to the settlement security guard, and with dogs. They swore at the residents and told them to leave. The residents obeyed out of fear, and then the settlers stole five water tanks and towed them towards the settlement of Metzad, while other settlers drove up to the community in several cars and stole items from residents’ homes. The residents filed a complaint about the settlers’ actions at the Etzion police station that same day. The next day, 24 October 2024, community residents returned once more, and within an hour, the settlement guard arrived with three female soldiers, who told the residents to leave and pushed them to the main road leading to Sa’ir. As of 30 October 2024, community residents have not returned home.