oPt: Msafer Yatta demolitions deepen fears of ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank [EN/AR]

EXTRACTO DEL FEED · ATRIBUIDO AL MEDIO

Country: occupied Palestinian territory

Source: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Please refer to the attached files.

Israel must immediately halt the mass destruction of Palestinian villages in Msafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills, and the forcible transfer of the residents, compounding fears of ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank.

On 23 September, Israeli forces with Israeli Civil Administration bulldozers demolished dozens of Palestinian structures including homes, agricultural infrastructure as well as water tanks and solar panels in the village of Khirbet Jinba. Three additional villages in Msafer Yatta have already been destroyed, almost entirely, in September 2026. Overall, there are 12 villages in Msafer Yatta housing over 1,100 Palestinians, most of whom have owned and lived on the land for generations.

“Our homes were torn down today, wiped from the face of the earth,” one resident of Jinba told UN Human Rights – OPT, “This isn’t the demolition of rocks, this is the destruction of years of hard work and memories.”

Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes and infrastructure have so far displaced 1,500 people in the occupied West Bank in 2026 according to OCHA — over a third of all 4,300 forcibly displaced Palestinians this year.

“The forcible transfer of a civilian population from their land by an occupying power is a war crime. The case of Msafer Yatta also raises serious concerns of deepening Israel’s violation of international law’s prohibition of racial segregation and apartheid,” said Ajith Sunghay, the Head of UN Human Rights – OPT.

In the 1980s, Israel declared some 30,000 dunums of Msafer Yatta where Palestinians had lived long before 1967 as “Firing Zone 918”. Waves of Israeli eviction and demolition orders have continued in the area since then with Israeli authorities consistently citing the requirement of military training in the designated firing zone.

However, Israeli settlers live in at least 11 outposts within Firing Zone 918 without contestation, most of which were created after October 2023. All settlements are unlawful under international law, but outposts are illegal even under Israeli law. The Israeli Government has retroactively regularized at least one of the outposts partially located in Firing Zone 918 in February 2023.

“Israel’s toolbox for Palestinian erasure in the occupied West Bank is vast: demolitions, evictions, settlement expansion, settler violence, arbitrary zoning, land confiscations, appropriation of heritage sites, raids, devastating violence,” Sunghay said, “But it is all happening under the same banner — Israel consolidating its annexation of as much Palestinian territory as possible, with as few Palestinians as possible, as fast as possible.”

“Member States must act now while they still can, to halt this project and ensure Palestinians are able to exercise their right to self-determination,” he added.

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact:

Mayy El Sheikh – [email protected]

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