Hyundai Construction Equipment (Hyundai CE) must take immediate action to prevent its products’ involvement in demolitions in Masafer Yatta, Amnesty International and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) said.

The organizations have documented five instances where Israeli forces used excavators manufactured by Hyundai CE to raze Palestinian property in Masafer Yatta, an area of the occupied West Bank where some 1,150 Palestinians are at imminent risk of forcible transfer. The demolitions in question displaced at least 15 Palestinians, including six children, and constitute war crimes under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Amnesty International wrote to Hyundai CE with its findings, and asked it to explain what human rights due diligence procedures it had undertaken to prevent its products being used by Israeli forces to commit violations in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Hyundai CE stated that it was not “engaged in Israeli settlement activities”, but did not provide details on due diligence. Nor did the company address Amnesty International’s concerns about the Israeli military’s use of Hyundai CE products to carry out demolitions in Masafer Yatta.

Amnesty International also wrote to EFCO Ltd (EFCO), Hyundai CE’s sole distributor in Israel, but at time of publication had received no response.

“Palestinians in Masafer Yatta are living in a state of constant dread – watching the horizon for the arrival of Israeli forces, and the excavators which mean the end of life as they know it. Some residents have already seen the Israeli military use excavators to demolish the homes of their neighbours and rip out essential village infrastructure – excavators which bore Hyundai’s logo,” said Mark Dummett, Head of Business and Human Rights at Amnesty International.

“Hyundai CE must act urgently to end its products’ involvement in forcible transfer and unlawful home demolitions. These violations help maintain Israel’s apartheid system and are crimes under international law – no business should be linked to or benefiting from them. We are calling on Hyundai CE to cut ties with its Israeli distributor EFCO, until EFCO has taken concrete steps to ensure Hyundai CE products are not being used to commit human rights violations.”

Amnesty International said it considers that Hyundai CE failed to conduct proper human rights due diligence on its business operations in Israel. An adequate risk assessment should have indicated that there was a likelihood of Hyundai CE’s products ultimately being used by Israeli forces to commit violations in Israel and the OPT.

Amnesty said Hyundai CE now has a responsibility to mitigate the harm it has been linked to. It should do this by taking steps such as reviewing its human rights guidelines, and publishing a plan outlining the steps it will take to end its products’ involvement in human rights violations.

Amnesty International and DAWN called on Hyundai CE to suspend distribution of its products in Israel through EFCO, until the latter commits to conducting human rights due diligence, and until it ensures that end users do not employ Hyundai CE machinery for unlawful activities.

In May 2022, Israel’s High Court rejected a petition from Masafer Yatta residents, and ruled that the demolition of nine hamlets and villages could go ahead – greenlighting one of the biggest acts of forcible transfer in the OPT since 1967. Dozens of demolitions have been carried out already. In January 2023, Israeli authorities informed residents that their forcible transfer would be imminent.

Amnesty International and DAWN verified the use of Hyundai CE excavators in five demolitions that took place in Masafer Yatta in 2022. For example, on 15 February 2022, Israeli forces used a Hyundai HX330AL crawler excavator to demolish a home and a water cistern in Khallet al-Mayah village, forcibly displacing a family of six. In July 2022, a Hyundai HW210 wheeled excavator and a HX330AL crawler excavator were used on separate occasions by Israeli forces to demolish two homes in the village of Umm Qussa, forcibly displacing at least nine people. In all these cases, Hyundai’s logo was visible on excavators, alongside EFCO’s brand sticker.

“This is a crucial moment for the Palestinian residents of Masafer Yatta as they face ramped up demolitions of their homes and community by the Israeli government to cleanse this area of the indigenous population,” said Adam Shapiro, Director of Advocacy, Israel/Palestine, at DAWN.

In the 1980s, Israeli authorities designated a large area of Masafer Yatta a “closed military zone”, claiming they needed the land to conduct training exercises. Since then, Palestinian families who have lived in the area for generations have faced the constant threat of demolition and displacement, as well as attacks by Israeli settler groups and harassment by the Israeli military.