Israeli army to proceed with Masafer Yatta drills despite Palestinian outrage
The Israeli army will begin military exercises in the occupied West Bank village of Masafer Yatta on Tuesday, despite opposition from fearful Palestinian residents.
Rocket-propelled grenades, tanks, machine guns, bulldozers and other types of heavy weapons and machinery will be used in the military exercises, which will take place from 12-6pm local time, reported Haaretz.
The drill, which will continue for a month, will be the largest in 20 years, the newspaper said.
Some 1,200 Palestinians from Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, risk being expelled from their homes to make way for an army firing zone after a decades-long legal battle that ended last month in Israel's highest court.
The ruling opened the way for one of the largest displacements since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinian residents are refusing to leave, hoping their resilience and international pressure will keep Israel from carrying out the expulsions.