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Israeli Demolitions Hit Homes and Schools in Masafer Yatta

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Israeli forces demolished homes and school rooms in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, as students vow to keep attending classes despite the threats.

Twelve-year-old Sundus al-Hamamdeh set off for class on Tuesday morning from her family's home in Khirbet al-Fakhit, a village in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank. It was the third day of the new school year. By the time the sixth-grader at al-Fakhit Secondary School came back, the house was no longer standing.

Israeli forces had swept through Khirbet al-Fakhit that day and carried out a wide demolition, flattening residences along with livestock pens, water systems and solar-power equipment. For al-Hamamdeh, the building she returned to each afternoon had been her one place of refuge.

Masafer Yatta sits south of Hebron, and the risk of losing a home is a constant for the children who live there. A large share of the area falls inside Area C, the portion of the West Bank where Israel holds authority over planning and building. Israeli officials say the demolished structures went up without permits. Palestinians, supported by the United Nations, point out that securing such permits is almost never possible for them.

The threat extends beyond family houses to the classrooms themselves. On August 4, Israeli forces encircled the Shaab al-Butum school, according to Bassam Jabr, the director-general of education in Masafer Yatta. A military bulldozer then tore down two rooms used by teaching and administrative staff, along with a storage room. The United Nations verified the demolition on its own, reporting that Israeli authorities gave the absence of an Israeli-issued building permit as the reason.

The damage may not end there. A demolition order still hangs over the main school building.

A remote school with nowhere to send its students

Shaab al-Butum school opened in 2015 and now teaches roughly 60 pupils, from kindergarten age up to the 11th grade. Because the community sits so far from other facilities, moving those students elsewhere would be especially hard, Jabr said.

Education officials have taken their case to Israeli courts and have asked the United Nations and foreign governments to step in. So far, the schools remain exposed to the same orders.

Schools carry particular weight in Masafer Yatta. They allow families to keep their children in class without long journeys, and Palestinians argue this is precisely why the buildings have been singled out. Keeping education within reach is one of the main reasons residents have been able to stay on the land, and the loss of a school makes remaining far harder.

Firing zones and harsh conditions

Violence tied to the Israeli military and to settler attacks has continued across the West Bank, but residents describe Masafer Yatta as facing unusually heavy pressure. The communities are small and scattered, with limited means to resist, and daily life is already difficult.

Adding to that, the Israeli military has declared large stretches of the area a firing zone for training. That designation has become a further basis for pushing the Palestinian population out.

The reach of the threat spans many of the small communities in the district. Intisar Omar Abu Sabha, an administrative director at the Masafer Yatta Directorate of Education, listed schools in Zif, ar-Rifaiyah, Umm Qussa, Umm al-Kheir, Jinba, Shaab al-Butum and Khirbet al-Daba among those affected.

For now, the students say they intend to keep showing up. Even with homes reduced to rubble and classrooms under demolition orders, the children of Masafer Yatta have pledged to carry on with their education.

Masafer Yatta, West Bank demolitions, Shaab al-Butum school, Khirbet al-Fakhit, Area C, Israeli military firing zone, Palestinian education, Hebro

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