Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday demolished three inhabited homes in Khirbet Khallet al‑Farra, one of the Palestinian hamlets west of Yatta in the southern Hebron district, in the occupied West Bank’s southern part, displacing several families.
Local activist Khaled al‑Qaimari told reporters that the homes belonged to relatives from the Harb family — Rafat, Thaer, and Issa Harb — and were torn down despite prior objections filed with Israeli courts.
He noted that the families had received demolition notices before appealing the demotion orders, but their appeals were rejected.
Al‑ Qaimari added that Yatta and its surrounding hamlets face a systematic policy of siege and demolition, compounded by attacks from illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers who burn homes, destroy property and crops, and seize land and livestock under the protection of occupation forces.
The demolition is part of a decades‑long campaign to expel Palestinians from the South Hebron Hills.
Twenty‑five years ago, the Israeli military filed a case to evict residents from 12 villages in Masafer Yatta, claiming the area was designated as a “firing zone” and uninhabited before 1980 — a claim firmly denied by Palestinian residents who have lived there for generations.
Today, around 1,800 Palestinians reside in 28 communities across Masafer Yatta, spread over more than 30,000 dunums. Expanding Israeli colonial projects continue to target thousands of dunums of their land, threatening mass displacement and erasure of entire communities.
