Masafer Yatta is a desert region of the southern West Bank that is home to 1,144 Palestinians living
across 12 villages. Their lives changed drastically in the 1980s
when the land on which their homes are built was declared to be a ‘closed military zone’ by the Israeli authorities.
On 4 May 2022, the Israeli Supreme Court declared that there were no ‘legal barriers’ to the evictions.
As a result of the decision, 211 Palestinian
households (1144 people) are at immediate risk of forced evictions, arbitrary displacement, and forcible transfer.
The decision of the Israeli Supreme Court in May 2022 has resulted in a sharp uptick in hostile measures applied by the Israeli authorities in Masafer Yatta to put extraordinary pressure on residents of Masafer Yatta to leave their homes. Such measures include the demolition of homes and schools,
issuance of eviction notices and an increase in checkpoints, confiscation of residents’ vehicles, military
training, night-time home incursions, enforced curfews, and other movement restrictions, making people’s lives unbearable.
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders (MSF) is providing medical health services via
mobile clinics to the residents of Masafer Yatta since 2021, and mental health care in the Hebron
Governorate since 1996. MSF’s witnessed first-hand the impact of the increasingly coercive and
oppressive environment on the physical and mental health of the people in Masafer Yatta.