Eyes Wide Open | Photo Blog
Harassment of Khirbet Ibzik community continues: residents evacuated from homes; military trains in their fields with tanks; Civil Administration destroys homes of three families
In the past month, the military has evacuated families from Khirbet Ibzik five times on the pretext that it needs to hold training right by the community’s homes. The last evacuation took place on 27 December 2021, at 8:00 A.M. The military did not allow the families to return to their homes until 2:00 A.M. On the day of the evacuation and the following day, the military conducted training, including with tanks, near the community’s homes and cultivated fields, damaging barley crops. Tanks fired shells 350 meters away from the residents’ homes. At around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel also came to the community. They dismantled and confiscated three residential tents belonging to three families numbering 16 people in total, including six minors. They also confiscated and dismantled eight tents used as livestock enclosures, two tents used for storing fodder, two water tanks and two solar panels.
'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem's field researcher in the Jordan Valley…
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.