Large stretches of farmland, family homes and community buildings in the occupied West Bank faced fresh destruction this week, as coordinated operations by armed settlers and Israeli forces targeted rural communities from southern al-Khalil to the outskirts of Jerusalem. The new measures, carried out amid an already devastating genocidal war, have intensified fears among residents who see these actions as part of a long-running push to reshape the area’s demographic and territorial landscape.

In the hills south of al-Khalil, agricultural terraces were levelled and long-standing vineyards and olive groves were torn up, leaving families whose livelihoods depend on the land with little more than uprooted trees and damaged soil. Local residents reported that livestock belonging to settlers had been repeatedly driven onto cultivated land, a tactic that has undermined harvests for years. The latest bulldozing destroyed hundreds of grapevines and olive trees, deepening the sense of vulnerability among farming families already struggling to survive under constant pressure.

Further north, near Jerusalem, settlers erected new structures on privately owned land, signalling the establishment of yet another outpost. Residents say this expansion, taking place during an ongoing genocidal war, is reinforcing patterns that have long undermined local communities: the gradual fragmentation of their land, the tightening of restrictions, and the steady encirclement of villages by new settlement activity.

At the same time, Israeli forces issued fresh demolition orders across the southern West Bank, including against a small rural school serving dozens of young children. The school, made up of several caravans, has been repeatedly threatened in the past. Families in nearby villages also received notices targeting their homes, placing whole households at risk of displacement at a moment when hundreds of structures have already been destroyed this year. Many fear the latest measures signal a broader attempt to cement control over Area C, where communities remain exposed to systematic demolitions and forced removal.