Palestinian residents inspect the damage several hours after Israeli forces demolished northern Fakhit in Masafer Yatta, in the southern West Bank, September 8, 2026. (Mosab Shawer/Activestills)
Palestinian residents inspect the damage several hours after Israeli forces demolished northern Fakhit in Masafer Yatta, in the southern West Bank, September 8, 2026. (Mosab Shawer/Activestills)

‘Everything necessary for human life was erased’

In the span of a week, Israeli bulldozers demolished Al-Taban and northern Fakhit, two neighboring Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta. When residents helped each other stay on the land, soldiers came to make arrests.

Basel Adra By Basel Adra September 17, 2026 | Edit

Until just two weeks ago, the Palestinian communities of Al-Taban and northern Fakhit sat opposite each other on two hills in the Masafer Yatta region of the occupied West Bank. On Sept. 2, Israeli military bulldozers demolished nearly every structure in Al-Taban. Six days later, they returned and erased northern Fakhit.

All 12 family homes in Al-Taban were demolished, leaving the village’s entire population — around 70 people, including 28 children, as well as elderly residents and people with chronic illnesses — sleeping in the open with nowhere else to go.

The demolitions also left residents without adequate food or water for themselves and their livestock. Israeli forces destroyed 10 pens housing around 600 sheep — the community’s primary source of income — as well as two milking facilities, four water-collection wells, 15 water tanks, and 10 structures used to grow or store animal feed. They also blocked four caves used to store household goods and other essential belongings with earth and mud.

Basel Adra

Basel Adraa is an activist, journalist, and photographer from the village of a-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills.

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