firing zone

Community members in Khirbet Samra loading their flock into trucks before their departure on Saturday, March 1, 2025. (Dikla Taylor-Sheinman)

Israeli settler violence is rapidly emptying Jordan Valley of Palestinians

Khirbet Samra is one of the last Palestinian shepherding communities in the West Bank’s eastern flank. State-backed settler militias are driving them out.

By Dikla Taylor-Sheinman and Georgia Gee March 19, 2025

Israeli settlers with grazing sheep near the Palestinian village of Ein al-Rashash. (Oren Ziv)

Palestinian village fears imminent expulsion as settler attacks escalate

Residents of Ein al-Rashash are calling on activists to help deter Israeli settler violence that has already forced neighboring communities to flee.

By Tash Lever August 31, 2023

Israeli soldiers block the path of a Palestinian shepherd and her flock of sheep near the West Bank village of Al-Mufagara, South Hebron Hills, West Bank, December 21, 2012. (Oren Ziv/Activestills)

‘The hardest year of my life’: Masafer Yatta shepherds suffer under expulsion threat

Israel's escalating repression since last year's High Court ruling has severely impacted Palestinian shepherds, a pillar of their communities' survival.

By Hamdan Ballal Al-Huraini June 5, 2023

Latest

Illustrative photo of settlers near the Desert Frontier base in Rujum al-Naqa. (Photo: Dror Etkes)

Revealed: The IDF unit turning ‘hilltop youth’ settlers into soldiers

An investigation by +972 and Local Call uncovers how Israeli settlers from violent outposts are being inducted into 'Desert Frontier' — a new military unit responsible for severe abuses of Palestinians across the West Bank.

By Yuval Abraham May 3, 2023

Israeli army blocks the road for a Palestinian driving a tractor, during an olive planting action in the village of Deir Nizzam, Ramallah district, West Bank, December 15, 2009. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

The Israeli army is making millions by seizing Palestinian tractors

Data shows the military, with settler backing, is intensifying its confiscation of Palestinian agricultural equipment while profiting from release fees.

By Basel Adra and Oren Ziv May 1, 2022

Illustrative photo of an Israeli rally race team training. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Settlers illegally expand West Bank race track in IDF firing zone

Since +972 Magazine visited the site earlier this year, the track has been paved — despite an Israeli army order to stop construction. The Israeli military often uses firing zones to displace Palestinians. Israeli authorities have continued illegally building a state-of-the-art race track in the West Bank, despite IDF stop-work orders issued earlier this year.…

By Edo Konrad August 20, 2017

A member of the Jahalin Bedouin sits on the remains of his demolished home in Al Eizariya, West Bank, March 18, 2009. (photo: Anne Paq)

In five-year high, Israel demolishes 143 Palestinian structures in single month

Israel demolished 143 Palestinian structures in August, the highest such total in five years. The wave of demolitions came amid severe heat waves and has left children homeless as they start the new school year. Israel demolished 143 Palestinian structures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the month of August, the highest such total in five…

By Natasha Soffer-Roth September 5, 2015

Israeli soldiers patrol in the the Ein Hijleh protest camp, Jordan Valley, West Bank, February 5, 2014. (photo: Hamde Abu Rahma/Activestills.org)

IDF displaces 10 Palestinian families to conduct military drills

The IDF orders Palestinian residents from the northern Jordan Valley to evacuate their own homes in order to make way for military drills, which have previously damaged farmland and infrastructure. The Israeli army evacuated 10 families in the community of Khirbet Humsah in the northern Jordan Valley on Wednesday morning, according to the Israeli human…

By Natasha Soffer-Roth June 11, 2015

Israeli army tanks in the northern part of the Jordan Valley during extensive military drills in the area, May 4th. (Jordan Valley Solidarity)

Hundreds of Palestinians displaced in Jordan Valley by IDF ‘training exercises’

Dozens of Palestinian families in the Jordan Valley were displaced last week by huge military drills conducted by the Israeli army. The disruption, and damage left behind, are representative of the wider problems of dispossession and control experienced by Palestinians living in this part of the West Bank. Hundreds of Palestinians in the Jordan Valley…

By Natasha Soffer-Roth May 10, 2015

Firing Range 24 in Rishon Lezion (Israel Social TV)

WATCH: Environmental groups fear firing zone will fall prey to developers

For 60 years, the Israeli army has held onto six sought-after kilometers of some of the country’s most beautiful coastline. As some of the area is returned to the public in the coming years, local authorities will be burdened the heavy cost of cleaning up a wasteland of munitions. Environmental groups are gearing up for…

By Social TV February 16, 2014