KHALLET ATHABA’ [Khallet ad-Daba’a on Google Maps, Khallet Athaba’ on the UN OCHA map], SOUTH HEBRON HILLS, WEST BANK
UN OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS (OCHA), 28 MAY 2025
On 28 May, the acting Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sarah Poole, led a diplomatic field visit to the south Hebron Hills with representatives of more than 10 Member States present.
Sarah Poole:
“Here in the West Bank, we’re witnessing alarming levels of violence, violence that also leads to demolitions, to forced displacement on a scale that we have not seen before.”
“Right now, we’re in Khallet Athaba’ where most of the community structures, as you can see around us, have been demolished in a single attack earlier this month. Homes, animal shelters, latrines, water systems, even the community centre and parts of the water network have been demolished, and nothing was spared. About 50 people were displaced, half of them children. And there’s real pressure on these families to leave altogether.”
“As we’ve heard today, the humanitarian community is doing what it can to provide help to the families and the communities that have been subject to these attacks.”
“These communities know how to take care of themselves. What the communities need is they need a right to protection. They need a right to be free from violence and displacement.”
The visit shed light on the current challenges faced by Palestinian communities in the wake of recurrent settler violence and attacks.
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