On June 18, Israel’s Higher Planning Council approved a new military order allowing the army to conduct live-fire training in the 918 firing zone—an area that encompasses 12 Palestinian villages in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank. The villages were the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, chronicling the community’s decades-long fight to stay on their land.

➤ The decision paves the way for the complete destruction of all 12 villages, home to nearly 2,800 people, and marks a major escalation in what both residents and rights groups describe as the final stage of ethnic cleansing.

➤ The move was made without public notice, formalizing Israel’s annexation of the area and granting sweeping authority to the Israeli military to proceed with mass eviction and demolition.

➤ Lawyers say only two channels remain to stop the expulsions: on-the-ground solidarity and urgent diplomatic pressure.