West Bank villagers claim IDF prepping ground for demolition
Residents of Jinba in the Southern Hebron hills report soldiers mapped and photographed their dwellings in surprise raid
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Residents of a West Bank village said IDF soldiers swooped in by helicopter to survey buildings facing demolition, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.
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According to the report, which relied on residents’ testimony, two helicopters landed near the village of Jinba and let out masked soldiers, who swept through the tiny village photographing cave dwellings and buildings, searching homes, and mapping the layout of the buildings.
The Ma’an news agency also reported on Tuesday that IDF forces blocked a road connecting Jinba to nearby Khirbet Bir al’Idd and set up a checkpoint.
The moves are feared by residents to be preparations for the planned demolition of eight villages in the area of Yatta that the IDF argues were built illegally on army live-fire exercise grounds. The IDF has offered to give residents access to farming land in the area when exercises are not in progress and for an additional two months of the year.
The villagers claim they have been living in the area since before the establishment of the State of Israel.
The Times of Israel Community.