The Middle East is experiencing one of the worst winter storms to hit the region in years. All almost all of the mountain ranges from Syria to Sinai are covered in snow and the coastal areas are seeing very large amounts of rainfall. State and local authorities throughout the region are working to bring homeless people into shelters and rescue those caught in the storm.

Yet on Tuesday, just as the storm was approaching, the Israeli army’s Civil Administration in the West Bank destroyed tents and shacks belonging to Palestinian families in the northern part of the Jordan Valley, leaving some 40 people – including at least 18 children – homeless.

The army has denied building permits to = Palestinian farmers in the Jordan Valley for years, human rights organization B’Tselem reported. For some of the families at Khirbet Yarze, this is the second time their homes have been destroyed.

These photos were taken on Wednesday. Today (Friday) the Palestinian families were still there, living in tents provided by aid organizations. A person who visited them said that their most urgent concern was their livestock; farmers in the region have seen their animals die from the cold in the past few days and the army destroyed the shacks that protected the livestock in Khirbet Yarze.