Israeli occupation forces launched a new demolition campaign Wednesday morning in Khirbet al-Fakhit, part of the South Hebron Hills region the occupied West Bank’s southern part.
Human rights activist Sami al-Hreini reported that Israeli bulldozers demolished several homes and sheep pens amid a heavy military deployment that blocked access to the area and prevented residents from intervening.
He described a climate of fear and panic among the local population as their shelters and sources of livelihood were destroyed.
According to the al-Baidar Rights Organization, the operation targeted homes and agricultural structures belonging to Palestinian families who have lived in the area for decades.
Al-Baidar emphasized that these demolitions are part of a systematic policy aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinian communities to make way for illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers. The organization called on international institutions to intervene immediately to halt the destruction and protect Palestinian presence in the South Hebron Hills.
In related news, Israeli occupation forces demolished a Palestinian home on Wednesday in the village of al-Walaja, west of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.
Also, Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian home in Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem in the West Bank.
These actions constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the destruction of civilian property and the forcible transfer of protected populations under occupation.
While Israel continues to build and expand its illegal colonies, Palestinian communities and towns in occupied Jerusalem and various areas in the occupied West Bank continue to be denied the right to build homes and property under various allegations meant to prevent the expansion of Palestinian towns and neighborhoods.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
