Yatta

Basic Information

Type

City

Governorate

Hebron

Region

West Bank - Southern

Historical Significance

Yatta is identified with the biblical Juttah and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in the Hebron region. It serves as the gateway to Masafer Yatta and the South Hebron Hills, an area internationally recognized for its unique Palestinian cave-dwelling communities who have inhabited the region for centuries. Since 2022, the Israeli High Court has ruled that over 1,000 Palestinians in Masafer Yatta can be forcibly expelled from their homes under the pretext of living in a 'firing zone' — one of the largest potential mass expulsions in the West Bank since 1967. Yatta is the base for numerous Palestinian and international human rights organizations documenting settler violence and military abuses in the South Hebron Hills.