Israel demolished 143 Palestinian structures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during August, the highest monthly total in five years, according to statistics released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Occupied Palestinian Territory (OCHA-OPT). The wave of demolitions has displaced nearly 200 Palestinians, many of them children.

The week of August 18-24 saw 42 Palestinian structures demolished, the highest weekly total in six months. On August 17, 78 Palestinians were displaced by demolitions — the highest daily total since October 2012. Between January 1 and August 31 this year, Israel demolished 403 Palestinian structures, an average of almost 1.7 demolitions per day.

The majority of demolitions have taken place within Area C of the occupied West Bank, defined as being under full Israeli security and administrative control. The region’s Bedouin communities have been the primary targets, as part of a broader policy of dispossession and displacement. Many of the affected belong to one of the 46 communities at risk of forcible transfer under Israeli government plans. Several of the demolitions took place within the context of the ongoing threat of expulsion for Palestinians living in the Ma’ale Adumim and E1 areas of the West Bank, amid Israel’s plans to create a contiguous territory between Jerusalem and settlement of Ma’ale Adumim.

The Palestinian Arab-Bedouin of the Jordan Valley have also been targeted by the recent wave of demolitions. In addition to having their homes destroyed, they are also subjected to Israeli military training maneuvers and the designation of their land as a firing zone, archaeological site, or nature reserve. All these activities displace Palestinians and officially bar them from accessing their own land.