For the past week, since sanctioned settler Yinon Levi fatally shot community leader and father of three Awdah Hathaleen, the Canary has been reporting on the village of Umm Al-Kheir, Masafer Yatta, in the occupied West Bank.

Awdah’s murder: the implications grow

Since his murder, on July 28, Israeli police have refused to return Awdah Hathaleen’s body to his family and, as a result, 60 women from the community are now on hunger strike.

Now, on Tuesday 5 August the water pipe which supplied half the village was cut in multiple places – reportedly by Levi’s brother in-law, illegal settler IIay Federman. According to the villagers, the other pipe which supplies the rest of the village is now at imminent risk of being destroyed.

Occupation forces have also informed Umm Al-Kheir’s residents that they will be cutting off their electricity any day.

Released after only three days of house arrest, Levi is now free to continue terrorising the Palestinian villages of Masafer Yatta and has been overseeing bulldozer work there.

The sole aim of these settlers, who are armed and fully supported by the occupation’s military, police, and government, is to forcibly displace Palestinians and acquire their land. They do this by carrying out daily attacks and harassment of Palestinians, including physical assaults, property destruction, and water and resource denial. All these methods are intended to make remaining in their homes as untenable and intimidating as possible for Palestinians.

Alongside this settler violence, the occupation forces are forcibly displacing thousands of people through home demolitions.

An increased in forced displacement and land theft

According to the UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA, between 7 October 2023 and 31 May 2025, more than 6,400 Palestinians were forcibly displaced following the demolition of their homes, while over 2,200 Palestinians were forcibly displaced by settler attacks and access restrictions in the same time period.

In addition, there are more than 40,000 Palestinians who have been displaced from three refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarem as a result of intensive Israeli operations in the northern West Bank since January.

It is no coincidence that while the Zionist’s plans are coming together to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip, the number of Palestinians forcibly displaced from their land in the occupied West Bank has reached the highest since 1967.

Land theft is also occurring at an exponential rate, with the occupation stealing more land in 2024 than in the previous 20 years combined. This year is on track to surpass even that level of land theft, while around 12,000 settlement units have been approved in the occupied West Bank in the first three months of 2025 alone, a number which already exceeds the 10,000 approved in 2024.

Featured image via the Canary

By Charlie Jaay

This post was originally published on Canary.