The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) is accelerating demolition of Palestinian houses and facilities in the West Bank and continue to forcibly displace its population as part of a systematic ethnic cleansing policy.  This comes at a time the Israeli settlement expansion is growing fast aimed at annexing the West Bank and extend Israel’s sovereignty over it.

Over the past few days, there has been a significant increase in IOF’s demolitions that have targeted tens of houses and facilities, forcibly displacing thousands of Palestinians, including women and children, leaving them homeless under devastating humanitarian conditions and amid the cold weather.  Demolitions have been mainly in Hebron, Jericho and occupied Jerusalem as well as northern West bank that has been under unabated widescale military assault for 3 weeks. During this brutal assault, IOF have demolished hundreds of houses and forcibly displaced more than 40 thousand civilians.

The lastest crimes of demolition were on 10 February 2025 in three villages in Masafer Yatta, southern Hebron. Nine houses, caves and water tanks were demolished alongside solar panels and agricultural projects in the communities of Janba, Maghayer al-‘Abeid and Khelet al-Dabe’a; as a result, 9 families of 57 members were forcibly displaced, including 9 women and 35 children.  all the demolitions occurred in the so-called “Firing Zone 918”, an area where the Israeli Supreme Court issued in May 2022 a decision allowing the Israeli occupation authorities to demolish all villages there.  The area is 30,000 dunums with 12 villages and Kherbah, home to around 1300 people.

On 08 February 2025, the Israeli occupation authorities forced 2 Palestinians to self-demolish their houses in Um Tuba and al-Mukaber Mount villages in Occupied East Jerusalem, according to a decision by the Israeli municipality issued on grounds of unlicensed building.  As a result, 2 families of 11 have become homeless, including 2 women and 7 children.

On 04 February 2025, IOF demolished 6 tinplated dwellings, forcibly displacing 14 residents in ‘Aqbet Jaber refugee camp, southern Jericho.

On the same day, IOF demolished an under-construction house and a scrap collection facility and razed concrete slabs as well as damaging the electricity network in western Ethna village, west of Hebron.

Since the beginning of the year, IOF and settlers have demolished 188 facilities, including 113 houses.  Among them, 17 houses have been self-demolished by their owners upon IOF’s orders in occupied East Jerusalem while 30 others have been demolished under the pretext of no permits. Moreover, IOF have demolished 4 houses for Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons, east of Tulkarm as part of Israel’s collective punishment policy against persons accused of carrying out attacks. Also, 75 commercial facilities have been demolished.

Moreover, during their extensive military assault on Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas ongoing for several weeks now, IOF have demolished hundreds of houses either completely or partially.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation forces continue their settlement expansion by building thousands of new settlement units and seizing Palestinian-owned lands for settlers’ benefit. This is part of clear plans to impose new demographic dynamics on the ground to pave the way for the gradual annexation of the West Bank amid the international community’s silence and even complicity of some of its influential actors.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns Israel’s policy of house and facility demolitions in the West Bank, forced displacement of its residents and land seizures. PCHR has monitored that Israel has intensified its aggression across the West Bank following the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip aimed at creating a new reality in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem.

PCHR emphasizes that this policy of house demolitions and forced displacement amounts to a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits collective punishment and unlawful destruction of property owned by a population under occupation. Furthermore, the accelerating settlement expansion constitutes a blatant violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which affirms the illegality of Israeli settlements and calls for their immediate halt.

PCHR recalls the advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July 2024, which has concluded the illegality of Israel’s occupation in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem. By this, Israel must end its illegal presence as soon as possible, end immediately its settlement activities and evacuate all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory.