Israeli demolitions threaten schools and homes in Masafer Yatta

On Tuesday morning, 12-year-old Sundus al-Hamamdeh left her home in the Masafer Yatta village of Khirbet al-Fakhit, and went to school. It was the third day of the new school year in the occupied West Bank. But when the sixth-grade student at al-Fakhit Secondary School returned from her classes, the house she had left behind was gone. Israeli forces had carried out a large-scale demolition operation in Khirbet al-Fakhit, destroying homes, livestock shelters, water infrastructure, and solar-power installations. For al-Hamamdeh, her house was more than four walls and a roof. It was her safe space, the place she came back to every day. For children in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the spectre of demolition is always present.