OHCHR: Mass demolition orders threaten forced displacement in Umm Al Khair–South Hebron Hills

العربية

07 November 2025

The UN Human Rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory calls on Israel to immediately halt the mass demolition orders issued on 28 October targeting 11 homes and vital community infrastructure in the Bedouin community of Umm Al Khair, South Hebron Hills.

The demolition orders threaten a new wave of forced displacement of Umm Al Khair residents—a community of 35 extended families who have lived there since their expulsion from their lands in Negev during the mass forcible displacement of Palestinians in 1948-1949, known as the Nakba.

For years, Israeli authorities have subjected Umm Al Khair residents to persistent discriminatory land regulations enforced by the Israeli Civil Administration, as well as several rounds of systematic Israeli demolitions of Palestinian structures and associated displacements. Similar to other Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills and nearby Masafer Yatta, the Israeli authorities consider most Palestinian structures in Umm Al Khair to be illegal for lacking Israeli building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain.

In the meantime, Israeli settlers have been allowed to expand settlements and to build new outposts connected to the nearby Carmel settlement. In September, settlers erected an outpost in the centre of Umm Al Khair and intensified harassment of the Palestinian residents to force them to leave. Despite a temporary injunction order issued by the Jerusalem District Court to stop construction and bar settlers from entering the outpost, authorities have taken no action to enforce the order, in stark contrast to the frequent and swift demolitions of Palestinian structures.

The impunity extends to unchecked settler violence, which has surged since 7 October 2023. On 28 July 2025, a well-known Israeli settler shot and killed Palestinian rights defender Owdeh Hathaleen during a protest against the construction of a new settlement road on the community land. Hathaleen recorded his own shooting, and a video filmed by another resident clearly identified the shooter. But the accused was detained on house arrest for three days and then released with no further consequences.

In 2024, the International Court of Justice concluded that Israel’s expansion of settlements, demolition of Palestinian homes and property, movement restrictions, and discriminatory zoning measures have created a coercive environment compelling the displacement of Palestinians, which constitutes forcible transfer and amounts to a war crime.

“The case of Umm Al Khair is emblematic of an ever-escalating wave of Israeli steps to consolidate its annexation of the West Bank, particularly Area C, in violation of international law,” said Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “Time is ticking. The international community must exercise pressure to protect Umm Al Khair residents from the imminent threat of forced displacement, and from any further violence and dispossession.”