47 Palestinian families face imminent displacement in West Bank as Israel cuts water supplies: Rights group

Israeli rights group B’Tselem said Tuesday that 47 Palestinian families face the risk of imminent displacement in the Jordan Valley in the northern West Bank after the army and occupiers cut water supplies to their homes, Anadolu reports.

“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.

The group said Israeli forces and occupiers 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.

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According to the group, the wall route announced by the Israeli army about a year ago extends nearly 22 kilometers 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 50,000 dunams.

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 kilometers 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 occupier attacks on Palestinian communities along the wall route.

The Israeli army and occupiers have escalated attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.

​​​​​​​Palestinian, Israeli and international rights reports say dozens of Palestinians from several West Bank communities have been forced to leave their areas due to Israeli military measures and occupier attacks.

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