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BEERSHEBA (Ma’an) – For the 63rd time, Israeli forces demolished the Bedouin village of al-Araqib in Negev Thursday morning.

A Ma’an reporter in Beersheba said bulldozers escorted by 25 police patrols raided the village at 9 a.m. and demolished all its steel houses.

“Forces of demolition and destruction raided our village in the morning and demolished our houses for the 63rd time. This is a barbarian assault as they left residents homeless during wintry weather,” local resident Aziz Sayyah al-Touri told Ma’an.

He highlighted that the assault came after Israel announced abandoning the Prawer Plan to displace Negev Bedouins.

Israel considers al-Araqib and all Bedouin villages in the Negev illegal, while Bedouins say it is their ancestral land.

There are about 260,000 Bedouin in Israel, mostly living in and around the Negev in the arid south. More than half live in unrecognized villages without utilities and many also live in extreme poverty.