Israel orders Palestinian families to evacuate their homes

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Israeli authorities on Thursday ordered Palestinian families in a village in the northern Jordan Valley, northeast of the occupied West Bank, to evacuate their homes, saying the area was being cleared to hold military exercises.

Moataz Basharat, a senior official who monitors Israeli settlement activities, said that Israeli forces notified the residents of the village of Hamsa al-Fawqa to evacuate their homes as military exercises will take place next Monday.

Basharat condemned the move as aimed at deporting the population and imposing restrictions on them.

Denouncing the move, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the evacuation decision is "a true test of the remaining credibility of the international community in its ability to fulfill its obligations and shoulder its responsibilities in stopping this racial discrimination and occupation project."

"What is required internationally is to take the necessary measures and penalties against the occupying power to deter it from implementing its settlement plans, and to provide international protection for the Palestinian people,” the statement added.

Housing units in the village were previously subjected to four demolitions, including as recently as last November.

The village is one of 38 Bedouin villages that are partially or completely located within a field that Israel declared a military firing site.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that around 200 Palestinian-owned properties in the occupied West Bank have been demolished by Israeli authorities in the first seven weeks of 2021, displacing at least 285 people, including 150 children.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara