07.18.2025 · 5 min reading time
July 18, 2025 · 5 min reading
Data set for 06.18.2025 to 07.18.2025
| Category | Total | 5-day avg | 30-day avg | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Incidents | 48 | | ||
| Structures | 125 | | ||
| Displaced People | 176 | | ||
| Men Displaced | 52 | | ||
| Women Displaced | 46 | | ||
| Children Displaced | 78 | |
This data set runs from 06.18.2025 to 07.18.2025, covering a 30-day period. This data is for the 30 days prior to and including the publish date, not Year-to-Date. As the data points out, across Jerusalem and the West Bank, displacement has been trending upwards. This, of course, is by design.
This data only reflects administrative home demolitions in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. This doesn't include the mass demolitions of homes in the Gaza Strip, or in places like the Naqab or the Galilee.
By Cody O'Rourke
cody@goodshepherdcollective.org
In 2025 to date, Israeli forces have conducted 322 military operations, demolishing 1,003 Palestinian structures and displacing 1,357 people (356 men and 346 women) in the West Bank and East Jerusalem alone. This represents an average of 1.63 operations daily, with nearly 7 Palestinians losing their homes each day and five structures demolished daily—a relentless pace of dispossession in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The 2025 data reveals a disturbing acceleration of colonial displacement compared to historical patterns. While operations averaged 0.27-0.62 daily during 2009-2018, the current rate of 1.63 daily operations represents a tripling of demolition activity. This year alone has already displaced 1,357 Palestinians, surpassing entire annual totals from 2009-2022.
Most alarming is the efficiency of displacement: today's operations displace 6.85 people daily compared to historical averages of 2-3 people. This intensification reflects refined colonial mechanisms—each operation now maximizes Palestinian dispossession, destroying larger residential complexes and targeting denser communities.
The recent 30-day data (168 displaced) would have constituted two months of displacement activity in 2010. What once took seasons now happens in weeks, normalizing mass dispossession as routine administrative practice.
Comparing yearly totals, 2024's catastrophic 4,293 displaced Palestinians dwarfs the 593 displaced in 2010—a seven-fold increase. The 2025 projection of 2,502 displaced continues this elevated baseline of violence, cementing displacement at historically unprecedented levels. This trajectory reveals not periodic spikes but a sustained colonial campaign to systematically empty Palestinian territories through bureaucratized violence.
Israel's unilateral seizure of administrative control over the Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron represents a calculated strategy to transform Palestinian religious sites into lucrative settler tourism infrastructure. By wresting management authority from the Palestinian Waqf, Israel can remake Islam's fourth holiest site into an economic anchor for Hebron's settler community, generating revenue streams that entrench the occupation.
This takeover follows the East Jerusalem playbook, where systematic alterations to the al-Aqsa Mosque status quo have normalized Jewish prayer and divided access, creating precedents for fuller annexation. Each "renovation" and military order chips away at Palestinian sovereignty while building settler political capital.
The economic dimension is crucial: religious tourism to "Jewish heritage sites" legitimizes settlements as permanent fixtures, attracting investment and visitors who normalize the occupation. When settlers control holy sites, they control narratives, tourist dollars, and ultimately, territorial claims. What appears as religious zealotry masks a shrewd colonial economics—sacred spaces become profit centers that finance dispossession while providing political cover through claims of "religious freedom" and "equal access." One only needs to look at how Israel has emboldened local settler groups and suppressed Easter activities for Palestinian Christians.
July 17, 2025
Location: Jerusalem Old City (East Jerusalem)
Description: Israeli authorities forced a Palestinian family to self-demolish parts of their home in the Bab Huta area, affecting four people, including two elderly residents. Destroyed: a 15m² metal-sheet balcony and external staircase serving as the home's only entrance. The family now must use unsuitable internal stairs through a shared courtyard, creating hardship for an elderly member with chronic illness. Despite the structures having existed for years, authorities issued demolition orders in 2024 following nearby municipal work that compromised structural stability.
July 16, 2025
Location: Hajja (Area C, Qalqiliya)
Description: The Israeli Civil Administration demolished a licensed dairy and cheese workshop, affecting 45 people from an extended family. Destroyed: a 200m² concrete structure including a cooling room, previously rented as a chicken butchery. The workshop served as the primary source of income for 10 co-owning siblings. Demolition order received January 2025; milk pasteurizer partially damaged during demolition.
July 16, 2025
Location: Qabatiya (Area B, Jenin)
Description: Israeli forces conducted punitive demolitions of four residential structures, displacing 27 people, including seven women and 13 children. Destroyed: three multi-story homes totaling over 1,000m² and one 100m² under-construction structure. Demolitions targeted the families of Palestinians accused of attacks against Israeli settlers in 2015 and 2024. Israeli forces previously killed all accused individuals.
July 15, 2025
Location: Sharafat (East Jerusalem)
Description: Israeli authorities forced a Palestinian refugee family to self-demolish their home, displacing five people, including three children. Destroyed: a 95m² residential house built in 2016 with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. The family received an initial demolition order in 2018, attempted legal remedies, and incurred a 38,000 NIS fine, which is still being paid monthly. Final order issued May 2025.
July 15, 2025
Location: Jabal al Mukabbir (East Jerusalem)
Description: Israeli authorities forced the self-demolition of a residential extension, displacing one person and affecting five others, including a child. Destroyed: 20m² second-floor extension with bedroom and bathroom. The family received a demolition order in 2021, attempted legal remedies, and incurred a 50,000 NIS fine, which is still being paid monthly. Final order issued July 2025.
