Israeli forces demolish homes in West Bank, displacing 176 Palestinians

Israeli forces have demolished dozens of homes and other structures in the Palestinian village of Janba in the southern occupied West Bank, displacing 176 Palestinians, according to the Israeli rights organization B’Tselem.

Military bulldozers and soldiers entered Janba, in the Masafer Yatta area south of al-Khalil, and demolished 24 residential structures, 16 agricultural structures, 16 solar panels and 14 water tanks, B’Tselem said.

“The expulsion of communities [is] part of a mechanism of ethnic cleansing and territorial takeover that Israel is using,” B’Tselem stated.

Those displaced included 85 children, according to the group.

“We lost our home; we lost three rooms – the kitchen, the sheep shed and the bread oven. We have nothing left,” Najah Jabarin, a Janba resident told Middle East Eye.

Jabarin said her family of 11 had nowhere else to go but intended to rebuild their home and remain in the area.

The demolitions come amid an escalation in the destruction of Palestinian homes and infrastructure in Masafer Yatta by the regime forces.

On September 2, Israeli forces demolished most of Khirbet al-Taban, a herding hamlet in the South Hebron Hills, including 12 homes that housed about 70 people, 28 of them children.

A week later, all five homes in Khirbet al-Fakhit, another Palestinian herding hamlet, were demolished, displacing 32 people. Livestock pens, water facilities, solar panels and agricultural structures were also destroyed.

Much of Masafer Yatta has been designated by Israel as a “firing zone” since the 1980s, with Palestinians living in the area facing demolition orders and restrictions on construction.

Nu’man Jabarin, a Janba resident born in 1969, said he had lived in the same cave as his parents and grandparents before him.

“Today, they wiped out everything I owned. I have no bathroom, no kitchen, no room and no cave left,” he said.

Residents said Israeli forces also sealed caves used to store food and clothing and shelter livestock.

Janba is one of 13 Palestinian communities located within an area Israel designated in the 1980s as “Firing Zone 918,” a military training area.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about 1,200 Palestinians live across the communities.

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In May 2022, Israel’s so-called Supreme Court upheld the military’s position on the firing zone, allowing demolition orders against Palestinian residents to proceed.

B’Tselem described the demolitions as part of an “Elimination Project” by Israel in the occupied West Bank, saying Israeli forces and settlers had expelled more than 4,800 Palestinians from their homes and communities since October 2023.

Data from the Palestinian Commission Against the Wall and Settlements shows that 492 demolitions were carried out across the occupied West Bank between January and August 2026, affecting 1,060 structures.

UN data showed that more than 1,600 Palestinians had been displaced by demolitions across the occupied territories as of September 23.

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