Friday morning,  Israeli military bulldozers started uprooting hundreds of trees which belong to residents of Yatta, south of the West Bank city of Hebron.

The bulldozing, which was initiated three days ago,  is being carried out in order to construct sections of the separation wall in Hebron.

The army started uprooting thre trees after barring the residents from reaching farmlands, and declared the area as a closed military zone.

So far, the army uprooted lands planted with almonds, Olives, and grapes, located in Khirbit Mnezel, south east of Yatta.

Resident Ahmad al-Hreiny, from Mnezel area, said that soldiers started constructing a road adjacent to the Wall; the road will extend to a distance of 500 through the orchards of the residents, and will be 15 meters close to the Elementary School in the village.

So far, the army bulldozed 400 Dunams which belong to Ahmad al-Hreiny, Ibrahim Salem Rasheed, Musallam Salama Rasheed, Abdul-Fattah Salem Rasheed, Badawi Abdullah al-Sha’aneen, and Ali Hasan Rasheed.  

Abdul-Hadi Hantash, expert in maps and settlements, member of the Land Defense Committee in Hebron, said that the wall in Yatta will extend to a distance of 10km, annexing hundreds of meters of farmlands in the southern and eastern sides of the village.

Hantash added that that several settlements in the area will be behind the Wall, thus annexing the lands around them.