Israeli occupation forces have seized 140 additional dunams of land from the village of Fandaqumiya, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank’s northern part, expanding a previous military order and raising the total area confiscated to roughly 450 dunams.
Ghassan Qarariya, head of the Fandaqumiya Village Council, stated that the new seizure order targets land across three separate basins.
He explained that this latest measure adds to an earlier order confiscating 311 dunams, marking a significant escalation in land appropriation around the village.
Earlier on Thursday morning, illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers installed mobile structures on lands belonging to Fandaqumiya and the nearby village of Burqa, south of Jenin.
Residents fear that the placement of these structures signals the beginning of a new outpost or an expansion of existing colonizer activity in the area.
Local officials warn that the accelerating pace of land seizures and colonizer encroachments threatens to further fragment Palestinian territory in the northern West Bank, undermining agricultural livelihoods and restricting community access to their lands.
In related news, Israeli occupation forces demolished an agricultural room, tore down a retaining wall, and bulldozed farmland in the village of Birin, in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank’s southern part.
Furthermore, the army demolished two Palestinian homes in the Upper Ta’awun area of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank’s northern part.
On Thursday afternoon, an elderly Palestinian was among several people injured when illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers attacked the Al‑Junaidi agricultural nursery and the surrounding area near Deir Sharaf, northwest of Nablus in the occupied West Bank’s northern part. The assault involved severe beatings, the torching of vehicles, and extensive property damage
In addition, Israeli colonizers closed the road to the Khallet as-Sidra Bedouin community near Mikhmas, northeast of occupied Jerusalem.
The area has been subject to constant Israeli violations, leading to the displacement of more than 33 Bedouin communities since October 7, 2023.
In addition, Israeli soldiers invaded the towns of Hizma, ar-Ram, and Al-‘Ezariya near Jerusalem, before they broke into and ransacked several homes.
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.
