UN urges Israel to halt demolition orders in Hebron village

The United Nations has called on Israel to immediately suspend demolition orders targeting homes and community buildings in the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair, located in the southern occupied West Bank.

In a statement released this week, the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory said Israel had issued demolition orders for 11 homes and vital community structures in the Hebron governorate.

The office said the move forms part of a broader pattern of Israeli actions aimed at consolidating control and deepening annexation of the West Bank, warning that the demolitions would displace entire families and dismantle essential infrastructure in an already vulnerable community.

Umm al-Khair, a small Bedouin village near the illegal Israeli settlement of Carmel, has faced decades of demolitions and harassment. Palestinian residents say they are routinely denied building permits, forcing them to live under constant threat of eviction, while nearby settlements continue to expand with full state support.

According to the UN, Israeli authorities have long enforced discriminatory land regulations that restrict Palestinian development, while settlers have been granted space to expand settlements and carry out an escalating number of violent attacks on residents and their property.

“The situation is urgent,” the UN office said. “The international community must act now to protect the people of Umm al-Khair from the imminent threat of forced displacement.”

Rights groups have echoed the UN’s concerns, warning that continued demolitions and settlement growth risk erasing Palestinian communities from parts of the West Bank, tightening Israel’s hold on occupied territory in violation of international law.