RAMALLAH

Israeli forces demolished a slum housing 120 Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, in the east of the occupied West Bank, a local official said Monday.

The head of the Al-Maleh villages' council, Aref Draghma, told Anadoly Agency that an Israeli military force stormed the slum and started demolishing it without prior notice.

The Israeli troops had previously demolished the slum several times, but its dwellers return every time and rebuild it, he said.

No official statement has been made by the Israeli army on the move. However, officials said that several Palestinian families in the area received eviction orders as a military drill would start on Tuesday.

Around 70,000 Palestinians and 9,500 Jewish settlers live in the Jordan Valley, a large, fertile strip of land which makes up at about a quarter of the occupied West Bank.

Last year, UK charity Oxfam said Israel was allocating almost exclusive use of the valley's water resources to Jewish settlements in the region.