Israel notifies residents of Bethlehem village of planned demolition
Israeli occupation authorities yesterday notified residents of Khirbet Al-Numan village, located on the borders of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, of plans to demolish all homes in the area in preparation for annexing it to the boundaries of occupied Jerusalem.
Hassan Breijieh, director of the Wall and Settlement Affairs Commission Office in Bethlehem, told Anadolu that “employees of the Jerusalem Municipality, affiliated with the occupation, stormed the village accompanied by occupation forces and distributed demolition notices to residents for 45 homes in the village, which represent the total number of homes there.”
Breijieh warned of an Israeli plan to annex the village to the municipality of occupied Jerusalem.
Jamal Al-Daraawi, head of the Al-Numan village council, said: “The demolition orders were issued under the pretext of lacking building permits, despite the village being established before 1948, with the last house built in 1993.”
He added: “The occupation’s policy aims to displace the village’s residents and annex it to the boundaries of the occupying municipality in Jerusalem.”
Al-Daraawi stated that “the village consists of 45 houses marked for demolition, covering an area of 1,500 dunams [1.5 square kilometres] and home to 150 residents. The structures are constructed from aged stone.”
According to the documentation by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Israeli military demolished 1,058 Palestinian structures in Area C during 2024, including 192 residential buildings.
The office highlighted that these demolitions resulted in the displacement of 860 Palestinians and adversely affected approximately 38,000 others during that period.