Several Palestinian Homes Demolished by Israeli Forces in West Bank
Several Palestinian-owned homes across the West Bank were demolished by the Israeli regime forces on Tuesday.
It comes as the Tel Aviv regime continues its land grab policies in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israeli soldiers raided the town of Kafr al-Dik, located west of Salfit on Tuesday, surrounding a house owned by a Palestinian, and evicting its residents before demolishing it, Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported.
The house was knocked down under the pretext that it was built without so-called permits in Area C of the West Bank, which is under Israeli military rule and accounts for more than 60 percent of the occupied territories.
Israeli forces also fired tear gas canisters at Palestinians who gathered to protest the demolition.
In the village of al-Diyouk al-Tahta, west of the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, Israeli military bulldozers demolished a Palestinian-owned building and issued a demolition order against another one which was built 15 years ago.
Four other structures were razed in the town of Anata, northeast of al-Quds, after Israeli forces stormed the area. According to Anata mayor Taha Numan, the demolished structures were built near the separation wall and a retaining wall built over 70 years ago was destroyed as well.
Israeli forces also flattened stores owned by a local resident which were built on the main road in the eastern West Bank town of al-Auja.
Israel routinely demolishes Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds, claiming that the structures have been built without permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. They also sometimes order Palestinian owners to demolish their own houses or pay the costs of the demolition.
Israel has already occupied thousands of dunums of Palestinian agricultural land to construct and expand new illegal settler units in various areas in the West Bank.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and al-Quds.
All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The United Nations Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.