RAMALLAH, Palestine/ANKARA

Israeli forces and illegal settlers began forcibly displacing Palestinians from the Bedouin community of Arab al-Malihat west of Jericho in the occupied West Bank for the second time within a month, a Palestinian official said Friday.

Muayyad Shaban, the head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told Anadolu that Israeli occupation forces and illegal settlers commenced eviction operations against Arab al-Malihat residents in east Jericho, defying an Israeli court ruling permitting the community to live on their lands.

In a statement, Shaban condemned the move as a “clear violation” of the court order.

He added that illegal settlers had burned homes and property and assaulted local residents, as well as foreign solidarity activists.

Shaban warned that the forced displacement of families in Arab al-Malihat for the second time in one month is part of a broader illegal settlement expansion plan executed by the Israeli government led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

He said the plan aims to Judaize the area due to its strategic location as a main route between Jericho and other West Bank governorates.

The official underscored that the displacement was carried out under settler violence and terror protected by the Israeli military, with attacks on the community escalating in recent weeks.

On Thursday, Palestinians rebuilt the community after an Israeli court permitted their return and residency following their forced eviction on July 4 amid a series of violent illegal settler attacks.

According to official statistics, 38 Bedouin communities in the occupied West Bank were displaced in the first six months of 2025 due to increasing settler violence.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, at least 1,011 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal. It demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.