Israel Threatens Thousands of West Bank Homes: 9,518 Notices
(MENAFN) Israeli authorities have served 9,518 demolition or stop-work orders on Palestinian structures across the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2015, according to figures released Saturday by a Palestinian government body, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission.
The orders freeze construction and leave buildings under threat of destruction, the commission said. It argued that they upend family life and restrict the ability of communities to build homes, expand services and sustain their livelihoods.
A report seen by a news agency breaks the total down into 9,174 notices between 2015 and 2025 and a further 344 in the first nine months of 2026.
The commission warned the count may be incomplete. It is drawn from cases the commission and partner legal groups, including the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center and the Society of St. Yves, were able to document, and may not reflect every notice Israeli authorities issued.
Hebron recorded the most notices, at 2,697. Bethlehem followed with 1,310, Ramallah and al-Bireh with 1,118, and Jerusalem with 929.
Yearly totals climbed from 701 in 2015 to a peak of 1,333 in 2023.
Separate figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show the toll of actual demolitions over the same period: nearly 12,000 structures were torn down, 1,698 of them financed by donors. OCHA said the demolitions displaced more than 18,000 Palestinians and affected roughly 843,000.
The UN office logs demolitions carried out for reasons that include the absence of Israeli-issued building permits, punitive action and military operations.
The orders freeze construction and leave buildings under threat of destruction, the commission said. It argued that they upend family life and restrict the ability of communities to build homes, expand services and sustain their livelihoods.
A report seen by a news agency breaks the total down into 9,174 notices between 2015 and 2025 and a further 344 in the first nine months of 2026.
The commission warned the count may be incomplete. It is drawn from cases the commission and partner legal groups, including the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center and the Society of St. Yves, were able to document, and may not reflect every notice Israeli authorities issued.
Hebron recorded the most notices, at 2,697. Bethlehem followed with 1,310, Ramallah and al-Bireh with 1,118, and Jerusalem with 929.
Yearly totals climbed from 701 in 2015 to a peak of 1,333 in 2023.
Separate figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show the toll of actual demolitions over the same period: nearly 12,000 structures were torn down, 1,698 of them financed by donors. OCHA said the demolitions displaced more than 18,000 Palestinians and affected roughly 843,000.
The UN office logs demolitions carried out for reasons that include the absence of Israeli-issued building permits, punitive action and military operations.
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