An Israeli occupation court on Wednesday rejected four appeals filed by Palestinian residents seeking to halt demolition orders targeting Zeef Girls Secondary School north of Yatta and three homes in Khirbet al-Mufaqara in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, effectively authorizing the occupation forces to carry out the demolitions at any moment.
Activist Osama Makhamra said the court dismissed the appeal against the demolition of Zeif Girls School, which has been under threat since 2016. The school consists of several caravan classrooms serving 251 female students from surrounding communities.
He added that the court also rejected three appeals submitted to stop the demolition of homes belonging to Fadel Hamamda, Nu’man Hamamda, and Raed Hamamda in Khirbet al-Mufaqara.
Makhamra stressed that the ruling provides the occupation with a direct green light to begin the demolitions, noting that “the implementation could happen at any moment.”
The Israeli Civil Administration — the occupation’s military-run planning authority in the West Bank — claimed the school lacks an approved structural plan and alleged that part of it sits on land classified as “agricultural” under an outdated colonial zoning scheme.
It also cited the presence of an alleged archaeological site known as Rujm al-Fajja’a beneath part of the school, a recurring pretext used to block Palestinian construction in Area C.
Zeef Girls School has faced demolition threats for nearly a decade, with multiple appeals filed by residents and legal organizations, including the St. Yves Catholic Center for Human Rights, but the occupation continues to deny building permits to Palestinian communities in Area C, making “lack of permit” a manufactured justification.
The ruling comes amid intensified Israeli efforts to displace Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta, an area repeatedly targeted by demolition orders, colonizer attacks, and military restrictions.
It reinforces a broader Israeli policy aimed at expanding colonial outposts, fragmenting Palestinian communities, and pushing residents toward forced displacement in violation of international humanitarian law.
The decision also comes as illegal Israeli paramilitary colonizers continue to seize additional Palestinian land across Masafer Yatta, the South Hebron Hills, and other parts of the West Bank, establishing new colonial outposts with direct support from the current extremist Israeli government.
Field reports from local protection committees and rights groups confirm that colonizers have expanded several outposts in recent weeks, bulldozed agricultural areas, fenced off grazing lands, and installed new caravans and infrastructure — actions carried out under military protection and later retroactively legalized by the occupation’s Civil Administration.
