Khalet al-Humus - The army destroyed a house, leaving a family with 6 children homeless
Because of a problem on the way (a flat tire!), we set off a little late. We took Highway 60 to observe the closures: in Samu’, the checkpoint is closed to vehicles; pedestrians can pass. We drove past “Yehuda Farm.” There is heavy traffic all along the road, mostly cars with Israeli license plates, and the beginnings of new “farms” are springing up everywhere—sometimes just a hint, a piece of tarpaulin flapping in the wind; sometimes a piece of heavy machinery suggesting future construction. The flags along the road are tattered, and I wonder whether they will take them down or replace them.
Dahariya is closed to vehicles, with many pedestrians moving around it. Abda, as usual, is tightly sealed off, and there are signs that another barrier is being added to a narrow path (for pedestrians?) leading from the road. This beautiful village is closed off on all sides, since the entrance from Dahariya is apparently also closed (we could not check because of the barriers and the prohibition on Israelis entering!). Dura is closed, as is al-Fawwar. Tired pedestrians struggle to get through.
We continued to Highway 317. On the way, the entrances to Hebron are closed except for the industrial area, where there is heavy truck traffic. The checkpoints at Qilqis is and the Sheep Junction (Yatta) are closed. It should be noted that all the checkpoints are closed, but there are no soldiers. In an emergency—a medical emergency, for example—there is no one to ask for passage or help.
A note: Aviad Farm has apparently expanded between Highway 60 and Highway 317, since we saw signs on both roads, which run parallel to each other, although a good few kilometers apart.
Highway 317—the settlers’ road—is deserted. We passed through Zif, where only the grocery store on the road is still operating, because the village is closed off by an unstaffed checkpoint.
We continued to a-Tawani and visited the visitors’ center, which now houses protective presence activists. They told us that the day before (16.09.26), the army had demolished a house in Khalet al-Hummus, a village between Susiya and Yatta. A three-story house belonging to a family with 6 children was demolished. The children and their parents are now homeless.
The demolition is part of a broad plan to destroy houses and other structures in the West Bank (Amira Hass in Haaretz, 22.09.26). At 10:30 a.m., the bulldozer arrived. The family was given 10 minutes to remove their belongings from the house. Nearby, a new farm consisting of tents has staked a claim for a permanent building. The incident apparently passed without violence—although demolishing a house is itself violence.
See also the Machsom Watch report of 01.06.26, according to which settlers sprayed the residents of Khallet al-Hummus with pepper spray. Apparently, these are the same settlers who are now coming to stay.
Link to Amira Hass’s article:
https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/2026-09-22/ty-article-magazine
Link to the report of 23.07.26:
https://www.machsomwatch.org/he/content_daily_report/
Location Description
A-Tuwani
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A-Tuwani
The locals came to a-Tuwani during the 20th century from the village of Yatta. They settled in abandoned ruins, utilizing the arable land, pastures for grazing sheep and the abundance of natural caves for habitation. The residents who settled in the caves came from families who could not purchase land for houses in the mother villages, as well as shepherds who did not have enough land to graze. They were joined by clan members who quarreled with other families in the mother locality.
Some of the residents today live in concrete buildings built above the caves. In the area of the village are several water cisterns and an ancient water well called 'Ein a-Tuwani. Local residents are forced to buy water in containers and transport them through many road blocks to the village. With the help of international organizations, an electrical system was installed in the village. In the late 90s of the 20tTh century, an elementary school was established in the serving several small villages in the area.
In 2004, MachsomWatch began visiting and reporting from the Khirbet Tuwani cave village, which suffers badly from the settlers of nearby outposts, and especially from the extremist Ma'on outpost. . The settlers contaminate cisterns, poison the flocks and uproot trees.Particularly notable is the harassment of children from the surrounding villages on their way to school in a-Tuwani, so much so that military escort of children is required to separate them from the attackers (this was arranged following an initiative of the organization's members). In the past year, the escort has been without the vital presence of overseas volunteers.
Near a-Tuwani there are several families who have returned to the caves due to the incessant demolitions of the civil administration (as there is a total construction ban in all of area C). Destroyed are not only residential and agricultural buildings, but also water pipes, machinery. Even water cisterns are clogged up. a-Tuwani residents have created an association for non-violent demolition protests, but in the past year the army’s harsh harassment and settler violence have intensified and escalated. The incident of the small generator confiscation, which left a young man paralyzed, is one of many examples - any legitimate protection of property rights leads to violence and even shootings by the army and the civil administration.
Updated April 2022
Timna OrevSep-24-2026Replacing flags on Highway 6
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Dura Al-Fawwar Junction
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Junction on Route 60: west - the town of El Dura, east - the Al Fawwar refugee camp. There is a manned pillbox at the junction. From time to time the army sets up flying checkpoints at the entrance to El Fawwar and Al Dura. Al-Fawwar is a large refugee camp (7,000 inhabitants in 2007) established in 1949 to accommodate Palestinian refugees from Be'er Sheva and Beit Jubrin and environs. There are many incidents of stone-throwing. In the vicinity of the pillbox there are excellent agricultural areas, Farmers set up stalls adjacent to the plots close to the road. In recent months the civil administration has set up dirt embankments thereby blocking access to the stalls, and making it impossible for the farmers to sell their vegetables. Updated April 2021, Michal T.
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South Hebron Hills
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South Hebron Hills
South Hebron Hills is a large area in the West Bank's southern part.
Yatta is a major city in this area: right in the border zone between the fertile region of Hebron and its surroundings and the desert of the Hebron Hills. Yatta has about 64,000 inhabitants.
The surrounding villages are called Masafer Yatta (Yatta's daughter villages). Their inhabitants subsist on livestock and agriculture. Agriculture is possible only in small plots, especially near streams. Most of the area consists of rocky terraces.Since the beginning of the 1980s, many settlements have been established on the agricultural land cultivated by the Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills region: Carmel, Maon, Susia, Masadot Yehuda, Othniel, and more. Since the settlements were established and Palestinians cultivation areas have been reduced; the residents of the South Hebron Hills have been suffering from harassment by the settlers. Attempts to evict and demolish houses have continued, along with withholding water and electricity. The military and police usually refrain from intervening in violent incidents between settlers and Palestinians do not enforce the law when it comes to the investigation of extensive violent Jewish settlers. The harassment in the South Hebron Hills includes attacking and attempting to burn residential tents, harassing dogs, harming herds, and preventing access to pastures.
There are several checkpoints in the South Hebron Hills, on Routes 317 and 60. In most of them, no military presence is apparent, but rather an array of pillboxes monitor the villages. Roadblocks are frequently set up according to the settlers and the army's needs. These are located at the Zif Junction, the Dura-al Fawwar crossing, and the Sheep Junction at the southern entrance to Hebron.
Updated April 2022
Timna OrevSep-24-2026Replacing flags on Highway 6
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Susiya
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Susiya The Palestinian area lies between the settlement of Susya and a military base. The residents began to settle in areas outside the villages in the 1830s and lived in caves, tents and sukkot. To this day they maintain a traditional lifestyle and their livelihood is based on agriculture and herding. Until the 1948 war, the farmers cultivated areas that extended to the Arad area. As a result of the war, a significant portion of their land left on the Israeli side was lost. After the 1967 war and the Israeli occupation, military camps were established in the area, fire zones and nature reserves were declared, and the land area was further reduced. The Jewish settlement in Susya began in 1979. Since then, there has been a stubborn struggle to remove the remains of Palestinian residents who refuse to leave their place of birth and move to nearby town Yatta. With the development of a tourist site in Khirbet Susya in the late 1980s (an ancient synagogue), dozens of families living in caves in its vicinity were deported. In the second half of the 1990s, a new form of settlement developed in the area - shepherds' farms of individual settlers. This phenomenon increased the tension between the settlers and the original, Palestinian residents, and led to repeated harassment of the residents of the farms towards the Palestinians. At the same time, demolition of buildings and crop destruction by security forces continued, as well as water and electricity prevention. In the Palestinian Susya, as in a large part of the villages of the southern Hebron Mountains, there is no running water, but the water pipe that supplies water to the Susya Jewish settlement passes through it. Palestinians have to buy expensive water that comes in tankers. Solar electricity is provided by a collector system, installed with donation funds. But the frequent demolitions in the villages do not spare water cisterns or the solar panels and power poles designed to transfer solar electricity between the villages. Updated April 2021, Anat T.
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