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Scene. Published by Maan News
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HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces delivered demolition notices to a Palestinian-owned home and eight steel structures, east of Masafer Yatta, in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron, on Sunday.

Rateb al-Jbour, coordinator of the National and Popular Committee in southern Hebron said that Israeli forces raided two areas in the Masafer Yatta area and delivered a total of nine demolition notices to a number of Palestinian residents.

Al-Jbour said that the demolition notices were delivered to Raed Khalil al-Hamamda, Mourad Khalil al-Hamamda, Amer Khalil al-Hamamda, and their sister, who remained unidentified.

In addition, demolition notices were delivered to Mahmoud Hussein al-Hamamda, Muhammad Hussein al-Hamamda, and the widowed wife of Maher Khalil al-Hamamda.

Recently, demolition campaigns have increased in the area, in attempt to depopulate the land of its Palestinian residents and to replace them with illegal Israeli settlements.

Around 3,000 Israeli settlers live in illegal Jewish-only settlements in the Yatta region, according to the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem.

The South Hebron Hills, known locally as Masafer Yatta, lie almost entirely in Area C, the 62 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and security control since the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Masafer Yatta residents were expelled at the time of the establishment of a firing zone in the 1970s and were eventually allowed back following a long court battle, but are under the constant threat of being expelled or seeing their homes demolished.