[9] In 2024, the American media reported that the Palestinians had left Zanuta, with non-governmental organisation Breaking the Silence blaming an Israeli settler for this.

Pottery shards at Zanuta indicate continuous settlement since the Iron Age, and archeologist Avi Ofer has proposed an identification of the site with Dana in the fifth group of Judean cities in the south Hebron hills.

[14] Ulrich Jasper Seetzen passed through Khirbet Zanuta (named Sanuta") in March 1809, noting: "It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon when we arrived in Zanutah.

This village is the last inhabited place on this side of Hebron, and about half an hour further south the territory of the Bedouin Btei'ah tribe begins.

The place functioned at that time as a commercial station between Hebron and Egypt; a consequence of the caravan-routes shifting inland since the Napoleonic invasion.

[15][16] French explorer and amateur archaeologist Victor Guérin passed through the area in 1863, and described its ruins, which were strewn over the summit and flanks of the hill.

He found: Numerous tumbled-down houses, of average size, that had mostly been built in earlier times from regularly cut stones, nearly all of which enclosed a cave drilled out of the rockface; cisterns lay around on all sides, and there was a pool (birket) dug partially from the rock, and partially built from stone, measuring 20 by 17 paces.

There were also traces of an ancient mosque, constructed, particularly in its corners, with magnificent masonry that had no doubt been harvested from a Christian basilica[note 1] ... Not to be overlooked also were the remains of a small freestone structure, with all the appearance of a sanctuary, perhaps a mausoleum dating back to the Roman period.

All that survives of it is a section of wall rising from the bedrock and embellished with two pilasters[note 2] between which one can see a vaulted niche touched off with elegant mouldings and probably designed to house a small statue.

[11] In 2011, an Israeli NGO Regavim, whose objective, according to Hass is 'to protect what it calls national (Jewish) land and to demolish Palestinian structures built without a permit,'[12] revived the case, filing an amicus curiae request, at which the state of Israel then submitted a full reply to the Zanuta villagers' petition.

The Israeli civil administration claims that the demolition order is related to the fact that it lies directly over an archeological site recognized under the British mandate, and therefore regularisation of their village structures is ruled out.

[11][22] On 29 August 2012 the Israeli governing authority in the West Bank destroyed two cisterns, some used to catch rainfall, used by Khirbet Zanuta shepherds and farmers.

The residents of the outpost then began to wrest control of most of the village's grazing lands and cisterns, while assaulting shepherds, uprooting trees and running over sheep with all-terrain vehicles.

"[29][30] The UK in October 2024 characterized the Meitarim outpost as one of several which were “involved in facilitating, inciting, promoting or providing support for activity that amounts to a serious abuse of the right of Palestinians not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”[31] The villagers petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice which, in July 2024, ruled that the state must allow the villagers to return and protect both them and their property.