The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Thursday demolished a nature reserve in the east of Yatta south of al-Khalil in the West Bank.
Chief of Kaabneh and Daqiqa villages Udeh an-Najadah said Israeli bulldozers escorted by troops embarked on removing the fence of the Daqiqa nature reserve which was established on about 150 dunums of land near the separation wall.
Najadah added that the bulldozers also razed trees and wells in the nature reserve as part of Israeli efforts to evict the local residents from the eastern areas of Yatta.
The Daqiqa nature reserve was established about 10 years ago with the assistance of foreign institutions in order to protect the land from Israel’s settlement activity. It contained over 5000 trees and four wells for the collection of rainwater and was fenced with barbed wire.
There are about 250 Palestinian citizens living in Daqiqa village and they work in agriculture and animal husbandry.
The Israeli occupation authority seeks to evict the local residents from their area at the pretext they live in a military training region.
In a similar incident the IOF demolished on Wednesday morning a park water wells and a nature reserve in the villages of Khashm al-Daraj and Umm al-Khair in the east of Yatta.
