07.31.2025 · 7 min reading time
July 31, 2025 · 7 min reading
Data set for 07.01.2025 to 07.31.2025
| Category | Total | 5-day avg | 30-day avg | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Incidents | 49 | | ||
| Structures | 160 | | ||
| Displaced People | 214 | | ||
| Men Displaced | 73 | | ||
| Women Displaced | 63 | | ||
| Children Displaced | 82 | |
This data set runs from 07.01.2025 to 07.31.2025, 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 Lara Kilani
lara@goodshepherdcollective.org
Over the last month, Israel has carried out 41 military operations to demolish Palestinian homes and infrastructure across East Jerusalem and the West Bank alone, displacing 186 Palestinians and destroying 125 homes and structures. The Israeli state has been displacing, on average, 6.2 Palestinians daily. This represents a slight decrease from the 90-day average of 5.8 daily displacements, but remains significantly lower than the 365-day average of 10.27.
Recent demolitions reveal systematic patterns of displacement. In Jabal al Mukabbir, an elderly couple and their daughter were forced to self-demolish their 70m² home addition after an 11-year legal battle, despite paying over 100,000 NIS in fines. A Beit Hanina case displaced 16 people from five households when a family was compelled to demolish their own 300m² building to avoid additional costs, after 20 years of failed permit applications and 190,000 NIS in accumulated fines.
In Area C, demolitions target both residential and agricultural infrastructure. In Ein al Hilwa, the zionist movement destroyed seven structures, including donor-funded facilities, displacing a family of five and an elderly, disabled woman. Ein el Beida, Israeli forces destroyed four agricultural structures serving 12 people. At the same time, in al Funduq, the military demolished a 240m² residential foundation destroyed despite the owner halting construction after receiving stop-work orders.
The pace of demolitions in 2025 remains higher than historical averages, despite the relative downward trend in recent months. With 333 operations displacing 1,419 people in just 210 days, projections indicate 579 total incidents affecting 2,466 people by year's end. This would make 2025 the second-worst year since 2009, surpassed only by 4,293 displacements in 2024.
The data reveals a troubling acceleration: daily incident rates have increased from 0.27 in 2010 to 1.59 in 2025. The 2020s are proving particularly severe, with last year (2024) marking the highest displacement figures in 16 years of documentation.
These demolitions follow a clearly designed pattern intended to displace and erase the indigenous inhabitants: Palestinian families invest years in legal battles, pay substantial fines, yet ultimately face forced displacement. The targeting of donor-funded structures and agricultural facilities reveals a broader strategy affecting not just housing but livelihoods and humanitarian aid. The practice of forced self-demolition adds psychological trauma to material loss, as families must destroy their own homes to avoid arrest and additional financial penalties.
Israeli settler Yinon Levi, previously sanctioned by the EU and US for attacks on Palestinians, was released to house arrest after killing Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen in his village of Umm al-Kheir in the South Hebron Hills. Video footage shows Levi opening fire during an attack on community members of the village. Awdah Hathaleen, 31, leaves behind a wife and three children, while Levi was released to his home and will undoubtedly receive financial and political support to continue to wage violence. Israeli forces arrested several members of the Hathaleen family. President Trump recently lifted sanctions against Levi and other settlers accused of extremist violence — a reminder that the United States is a co-author in the elimination of Palestinian lives.
This is just one example of Israeli settler violence intensifying as a systematic tool of displacement, with 27 documented attacks in just one week (July 15-21), injuring seven Palestinians and destroying over 560 trees. These attacks reveal a coordinated strategy of forced displacement through terror.
In Hammamat al Maleh, settlers raided homes, physically assaulted residents, stole hundreds of livestock, and handcuffed victims before handing them to Israeli forces. This attack forced two families to flee — their third displacement in under two years. The pattern is clear: repeated violence is intended to make Palestinian life untenable, forcing departure.
Water infrastructure attacks demonstrate another displacement tactic. Settlers repeatedly vandalized Ein Samiya's water system, disrupting the supply to 100,000 Palestinians across 20 villages. In Ras Ein al 'Auja, settlers emptied six water tanks essential for herding families, while in Mikhmas, they punctured tanks and ransacked homes. (For those that remember, the Jordan Valley is where loads of the settlers moved to after being dislodged from the settlements in Gaza).
Psychological warfare is an essential part of the infrastructure of settler colonialism. Doctors Without Borders reports that 94% of new mental health patients in Hebron were direct victims of settler violence. One Jinba resident described 17 settlers attacking his family, destroying their shelter, clinic, and mosque, while they blocked ambulances from reaching his critically injured father.
This violence operates as a key mechanism of settler colonialism, working alongside official demolitions to achieve territorial expansion. While the state demolishes homes through "legal" channels, settlers create unbearable living conditions through systematic attacks on people, property, livelihoods, water access, and psychological well-being. The collaboration is evident — Israeli forces often accompany settlers, detain Palestinian victims, and block medical access. Together, these tactics form a comprehensive strategy to empty Palestinian land for Israeli settlement expansion.
July 29, 2025
Location: Jabal al Mukabbir (East Jerusalem)
Description: A Palestinian family was forced to self-demolish the second floor of their two-story home, displacing an elderly couple and their daughter. Destroyed: a 70m² addition built 12 years ago, including a bedroom, kitchen, and storage room. The addition was constructed to improve living conditions as the ground floor sits adjacent to a septic tank. After receiving a demolition order in 2014, the family spent 11 years in legal battles and paid over 100,000 NIS in fines. The ground floor is now uninhabitable.
July 29, 2025
Location: Al Funduq (Area C, Qalqiliya)
Description: The Israeli Civil Administration demolished a concrete foundation intended for a future residential building. Destroyed: a 240m² concrete base on the village's southwestern side. Despite the owner halting construction after receiving stop-work orders in March 2025, authorities proceeded with demolition, citing a lack of Israeli-issued permits in Area C.
July 27, 2025
Location: Beit Hanina (East Jerusalem)
Description: A Palestinian family was forced to self-demolish their residential building, displacing 16 people from five households (including one child) and affecting six additional people. It was 300m² two-story building constructed in 2000, containing five apartments (60-120m² each). After 20 years of failed permit applications and paying over 190,000 NIS in fines, the family demolished their own homes to avoid arrest and additional demolition costs following daily harassment by the Jerusalem municipality.
July 24, 2025
Location: Ein el Beida (Area C, Tubas)
Description: The Israeli Civil Administration demolished agricultural infrastructure affecting 12 people from three households, including three children. These were two agricultural resting units with kitchens, two mobile latrines, and two 1.5m³ water tanks, serving as rest areas during farming and accommodation for agricultural workers. Furniture, personal belongings, and farming equipment inside were destroyed.
July 24, 2025
Location: Ein al Hilwa (Area C, Tubas)
Description: The Israeli Civil Administration demolished seven structures, displacing a family of five (including three children) and severely affecting an elderly disabled woman when they destroyed a residential home. All contents were destroyed, including furniture, animal fodder, food supplies, and cooking equipment. Despite years of legal efforts following initial stop-work orders, a demolition order was issued in June 2025.
