The undated photo shows Israeli forces demolishing a Palestinian house in an area of the occupied West Bank.   (Photo by Wafa news agency)

Ramallah, May 4 (RHC)-- Doctors Without Borders has called on Israel to immediately halt the demolition of Palestinian homes, schools and infrastructure in the occupied West Bank.  David Cantero-Pérez, the MSF head of mission in the occupied Palestinian territory, called on Israeli authorities to assume obligations under international and human rights law and immediately stop the demolitions, Wafa news agency reported. 

He demanded Israeli forces stop night raids into Masafer Yatta and nearby villages, which are located south of al-Khalil.  The MSF official also accused the Israeli authorities of exerting enormous pressure on local Palestinian residents for forcible expulsion.

The official said the regime authorities had intensified their punitive measures since May 2022, after an Israeli court issued a ruling that impedes the forced displacement of Palestinians across the region.

The medical charity, which is known by its French acronym as MSF, also warned the regime against the issuance of new demolition orders.

The MSF urged the international community to take all the necessary measures to protect Palestinians.  The report included interviews with residents of Masafer Yatta and several nearby villages and the documentation of sufferings inflicted upon them as a result of violence by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

The MSF called on the United States, the European Union, main backers of the regime, to pressure Israel into ending its violation of human rights across the occupied territories.  Israel has already occupied thousands of dunums of Palestinian agricultural land to construct and expand new settler units in the West Bank.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and al-Quds. All the settlements are illegal under international law. The United Nations Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.