74 Palestinians Left Homeless as Israel Demolishes 11 Structures Across Three Masafer Yatta Villages

Israeli authorities demolished 11 buildings across three Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills on Monday, February 10, 2025, leaving at least 74 people, including 35 minors, without shelter in freezing winter conditions.

According to a report from the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, Civil Administration personnel arrived with soldiers and excavators at Khirbet Khilet a-Dabe' in the Masafer Yatta area early that morning. The force demolished seven homes built from cinder blocks with tin roofs, along with four caves used as dwellings. Seven families, totaling 54 people, were displaced from that site alone.

The operation also destroyed water cisterns, water tanks, solar panels and a stone fence relied on by residents. From there, the force moved to Maghayir al-'Abid, where it demolished an agricultural structure, and then to Khirbet Jibneh, where two homes were flattened, displacing another 20 people.

Basel Adra, a resident of the area and a film director, described the scene as it unfolded. He said he was surrounded by armed soldiers and three large bulldozers as families were forcibly evicted from their homes in the cold, and that the destruction was continuing as he spoke.

Regional council leader Nidal Younis called the scale of the demolitions, spanning three villages in a single operation, unprecedented for the area.

The Legal Backdrop

The demolitions stem from a decades-long legal fight that ended in May 2022, when Israel's High Court of Justice authorized the state to demolish all villages inside Firing Zone 918, near Yatta, and expel their residents. The zone was originally established in 1981. Eight villages had petitioned against their removal; the court sided with the state.

Since that ruling, residents' attorneys have repeatedly sought exemptions for specific structures. Those requests have reportedly been denied at a faster pace in recent months. In December 2024, a request to spare a school and a clinic in the nearby village of Khirbet al-Fakheit from demolition was rejected. Attorney Michael Sfard has also filed a petition attempting to block the demolition of an electrical grid serving the area.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories has said the demolitions comply with the law because the structures lacked permits and sit inside a designated military firing zone. Regavim, a group that advocates for the removal of unauthorized Palestinian construction, has backed the demolitions as a step toward what it describes as restoring governance in the area.

A Disputed Justification

Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, disputes that framing. The group says the state spent years in court arguing that no civilian presence could be tolerated in a firing zone, yet has raised no objection to the expansion of Israeli settler outposts in the same area, some with direct or indirect state support. Peace Now characterizes the demolition campaign as part of a broader effort to push Palestinians off the land and replace them with Israeli settlers.

Some of the destroyed infrastructure, including water and electrical systems, had reportedly been funded by foreign donor countries, though the source material does not specify which governments or projects were involved.

Masafer Yatta has been the subject of sustained international attention since the 2022 court ruling, and residents say demolitions and eviction pressure have only intensified since. The February 10 operation is documented among a broader archive of West Bank demolition incidents compiled by researchers tracking the occupation's daily impact on Palestinian communities.