Israel displaces hundreds of Palestinians amid wave of demolitions in West Bank - Middle East Eye

Israeli forces carried out a mass home demolition campaign in a village in the southern occupied West Bank on Wednesday, leaving dozens of Palestinians homeless.

Military bulldozers and soldiers arrived in Janba, in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, early in the day and demolished 24 residential structures, 16 agricultural structures, 16 solar panels and 14 water tanks, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem.

Around 176 people were displaced, including 85 children.

“We lost our home; we lost three rooms – the kitchen, the sheep shed and the bread oven,” Najah Jabarin told Middle East Eye. “We have nothing left.”

Jabarin said her family of 11 had nowhere else to live, but intended to rebuild their home and remain in the area.

The demolitions come amid an escalation in the destruction of Palestinian homes in Masafer Yatta.

On 2 September, Israeli forces demolished almost all of Khirbet al-Taban, including 12 homes housing around 70 people, 28 of them children.

A week later, all five homes in Khirbet al-Fakhit were demolished, displacing 32 people. Livestock pens, water and solar energy facilities, and agricultural buildings were also destroyed.

Much of Masafer Yatta has been designated by Israel as a “firing zone” since the 1980s, placing Palestinians living there under longstanding demolition orders.

However, the forced displacement of hundreds of people in the area has surged since October 2023. 

Nu’man Jabarin, who was born in Janba in 1969, said he had lived in the same cave as his parents and grandparents before him.

“Today, they wiped out everything I owned,” he told MEE. “I have no bathroom, no kitchen, no room and no cave left.”

In addition to the home demolitions, Israeli forces also sealed caves used by residents in the village to store food and clothing and shelter livestock.

'They want to displace us to Jordan, but I will not leave. I will die with my children in my village'

Jabarin said his two-month-old grandson had been sleeping outside since their home was demolished.

“If you came to us at midnight, you would find our children out in the open, with no shelter,” he said.

After demolishing his home, soldiers told Jabarin to find somewhere else to live. Despite having nowhere else to go, he said he intended to remain in Janba.

“There is no alternative; this is my land. I was born here, and my father was born here. I have the documents and proof to show for it,” he said.

Jabarin said he tried to show his ownership documents as Israeli bulldozers moved in, but was told the area was a “closed military zone”.

“They don’t care about Palestinians anywhere. They want to displace us to Jordan, but I will not leave. I will die with my children in my village,” he said.

Nidal Jabarin, another resident of Janba, said the demolitions were aimed at making life increasingly difficult for residents and ultimately forcing them to leave.

He said such policies intensified during Israeli election periods, when Palestinian lives became “expendable”.

He accused Israeli political parties of competing to demonstrate what he described as “fascism, barbarism, savagery and racism” towards Palestinians.

“That is why they race to make people’s lives extremely difficult, to harm and destroy them, and to ruin everything in this village,” he said.

Janba is a historic village, Nidal said, arguing that the demolitions were targeting not only its residents but also its history and geography.

Janba is one of 13 Palestinian communities located within an area Israel designated in the 1980s as “Firing Zone 918”, a military zone used for army training exercises.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), about 1,200 Palestinians live across the communities. 

In May 2022, Israel’s Supreme Court upheld the military’s position on the zone, paving the way for demolitions and the displacement of Palestinians living there.

Nasr Nawajaa, a human rights activist in Masafer Yatta, said the demolitions in Janba amounted to the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians.

He said residents were being targeted ahead of Israel’s 27 October election, with the army putting pressure on Palestinians through road closures, infrastructure destruction and home demolitions.

“The entire goal is displacement; dozens of homes have been demolished or damaged, and more than 180 Palestinians have been displaced, all for the sake of election campaigning,” he said.

“Even without the elections, the village is being subjected to ethnic cleansing."

The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said the latest demolitions were part of what it described as an “Elimination Project” being carried out by Israel in the West Bank.

The group said Israeli forces and settlers had violently expelled more than 4,800 Palestinians from their homes and communities since October 2023.

“The demolitions and the expulsion of communities are part of a mechanism of ethnic cleansing and territorial takeover that Israel is using to dismantle the conditions that enable Palestinians to continue living on their land, while clearing the way for expanding Jewish-Israeli presence and control,” it added. 

Data from the Commission Against the Wall and Settlements shows that 492 demolition operations were carried out across the West Bank between January and August 2026, affecting 1,060 structures.

UN data shows that more than 1,600 Palestinians had been displaced by demolitions across the West Bank as of 23 September.