West Bank · 03 September, 2026 · 2 min read
Israeli Forces Demolish Khirbet Al-Tabban, Leaving Dozens of Palestinians Homeless Near Masafer Yatta
Israeli forces demolished about 10 homes in Khirbet al-Tabban, Masafer Yatta. About 12 families, 70 people, including 28 children, left homeless.
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Khirbet al-Tabban razed
Israeli forces demolished Khirbet al-Tabban in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron on Wednesday, entering with heavy vehicles and bulldozers and destroying about 10 homes and structures, according to local sources cited by Al-Jazira Net.
“demolished today, Wednesday, about 10 homes and structures”
Al Jazeera reported that Israeli forces arrived unannounced in the small village and demolished all of its 12 homes, as well as most of the community’s other structures, leaving about 70 people homeless.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Hebron, Mohammad Al-Atarsh, said the occupation forces also targeted caves used by residents for housing after their homes were demolished, adding that about 120 Palestinians were left without housing.
Haaretz said Israeli forces destroyed on Wednesday almost all buildings and infrastructure in the village of Khirbet al-Tabban, and it cited B’Tselem in saying Israel has expelled 66 Palestinian communities from their homes since October 2023.
Voices vow rebuild
Nidal Younis, head of the Masafer Yatta Council, described the demolition as “wiping the village off the face of the earth,” while insisting that villagers would not leave.
Younis told Al Jazeera, “The decision to remain and stand firm is the people’s own decision,” and he added, “They see no alternative to this land.”
In the same report, Al Jazeera said Israel justified Wednesday’s demolition by saying the buildings were unauthorised, and it noted that it is almost impossible for Palestinians in Area C to get authorisation.
Haaretz framed the expulsion differently, saying the village of Khirbet al-Tabban was expelled on the claim that it is in an IDF fire zone, while Israel allows settlers to establish outposts and farms in the same area.
Displacement and wider violence
B’Tselem said Khirbet al-Tabban is the 66th Palestinian community to be expelled by Israeli authorities since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, which it alleges is part of a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” being carried out in the West Bank, according to the BBC.
““ethnic cleansing” being carried out in the West Bank”
The BBC also reported that Palestinian teens Omar al-Nassan, 19, and Khalil Abu Alia, 16, were killed when local officials said Israeli settlers and soldiers attacked their village of al-Mughayyir near Ramallah on Wednesday.
Al Jazeera argued that the Khirbet al-Tabban demolition fits a broader pattern, citing B’Tselem’s report that it is “an accelerated and explicit phase in an ongoing project of elimination”.
B’Tselem’s report, as quoted by Al Jazeera, described the process as “a comprehensive mechanism of elimination,” drawing on nearly 2,000 Palestinian testimonies and linking it to violence and intimidation, movement restrictions, economic strangulation, social and political destruction, and ethnic cleansing and territorial takeover.