Israeli rights group B’Tselem has said that 47 Palestinian families face the risk of imminent displacement in the Jordan Valley in the northern occupied West Bank after Israeli forces and illegal settlers cut water supplies to their homes.
“Forty-seven Palestinian families, comprising more than 300 people, nearly half of them children, face the risk of imminent displacement from their homes in the northern Jordan Valley,” B’Tselem said in a statement on Tuesday.
The group said Israeli forces and illegal settlers last week cut the last water pipes supplying families in Ras al-Ahmar, Al-Thaala and eastern Atouf in the area.
“In most cases, Israeli forces prevent water from being transported to the area,” it said, adding that the families, who depend on agriculture and livestock for their livelihoods, face imminent displacement because of the water cutoff.
Repeated attacks on water infrastructure aim to expel the few remaining Palestinian communities in the area, coinciding with excavation work to build a separation barrier in the northern Jordan Valley, B’Tselem said.
It warned that the excavation work and destruction of water infrastructure threaten wide areas of Palestinian-owned farmland.
According to the group, the wall route announced by the Israeli army about a year ago extends nearly 22 kilometres from Ein Shibli to the Tayasir checkpoint area.
The wall passes through the lands of Khirbet Atouf, Ras al-Ahmar and other communities, cutting through farmland owned by Palestinians from Tubas, Tammun, Atouf and other areas, including orchards, greenhouses, wells and water networks, it said.
B’Tselem warned that the wall is expected to isolate residents from their land and allow the seizure of around 50 km².
Since the excavation work began in March, the area has suffered severe damage, including the uprooting of olive trees, destruction of crops and greenhouses, demolition of kilometres of water and irrigation lines, and damage to farmland that provides a livelihood for dozens of residents, it added.
The rights group also reported a rise in illegal Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian communities along the wall route.
The Israeli forces and illegal Israeli settlers have escalated attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the outbreak of the Gaza genocide in October 2023.
Palestinian, Israeli and international rights reports say dozens of Palestinians from several occupied West Bank communities have been forced to leave their areas due to Israeli measures and illegal Israeli settler attacks.
