Fifty left homeless in remote hamlet of mainly shepherds, as beatings and demolitions in occupied territory increase

Israeli soldiers have destroyed 11 homes and other structures in an isolated community in the occupied West Bank, leaving 50 people homeless, amid a reported uptick in house demolitions and spiralling violence in the Palestinian territory.

Contractors with bulldozers accompanied by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops arrived in Umm al-Kheir, a village mostly home to shepherds, on Wednesday morning and demolished six houses, tent residences, an electricity generator, solar cells and water tanks, according to residents and Israeli activists who documented the proceedings. Agricultural land and fences were also damaged and trees uprooted.

The demolition has destroyed about a third of the village’s infrastructure.

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    Israeli soldiers have destroyed 11 homes and other structures in an isolated community in the occupied West Bank, leaving 50 people homeless, amid a reported uptick in house demolitions and spiralling violence in the Palestinian territory.

    Masafer Yatta, a collection of shepherding hamlets including Umm al-Kheir, is located in area C, the sparsely populated 60% of the West Bank under full Israeli control.

    On Wednesday, when Umm al-Kheir was targeted, a total of 17 Palestinian houses were destroyed on the same day, according to rights groups: another four homes were demolished in the Jericho area, one near Ramallah, and one in East Jerusalem.

    They are part of Israel’s ongoing campaign to displace Palestinians from area C,” said Hagit Ofran, a co-director of the settlements watch unit at the Israeli advocacy group Peace Now.

    “As Smotrich recently stated in a recorded conversation we uncovered, in the West Bank demolitions are not about upholding the rule of law or ensuring equality; rather, they serve ‘geopolitical, strategic purposes.’”

    Rightwing elements have long sought to find ways to permanently seize or annex swathes of the West Bank, and Israeli settlement building there has significantly accelerated in recent years.

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