An Israeli Occupation court has given the go-ahead for the forced eviction of 500 Palestinian Bedouins in the Naqab region, according to Amnesty International.

The "Beersheba Magistrate’s Court" said residents of the village of Ras Jrabah must leave their homes, and vacate the lands where their families have lived for decades, by March 2024.

The court also ordered residents to pay a fine of approximately USD 31,700 to cover legal expenses.

Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International Heba Morayef said, “This judgment shows how Israel’s deeply discriminatory laws around land and property ownership are used to enforce apartheid against Palestinian citizens of Israel, who are systematically denied the same rights as Jewish Israelis.”

“The clock is ticking for Ras Jrabah’s residents, who have just months to pack up their lives and leave the only homes they have ever known, to make way for the expansion of the Jewish-majority city Dimona,” Morayef added.

“It is yet another attempt by Israeli authorities to minimize the Palestinian presence in the Naqab, under the guise of development,” she said.

Morayef pointed out that the “judgment underscores the need to dismantle Israel’s apartheid system, right now. The international community must put pressure on Israeli authorities to scrap these cruel plans, and end their policy of forcibly evicting Palestinians in the Naqab.”

The legal organization representing the residents Adalah pointed out that the Ras Jrabah eviction plans are part of a bigger aim to replace "Bedouin Palestinians with Jewish Israelis" in the Naqab.