Residents watch as an Israeli bulldozer demolishes a Palestinian house in the Umm Qasas area of Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank on July 25, 2022. (Photo by AFP)
Ramallah, July 25 (RHC)-- The Israeli occupation authorities have torn down yet another Palestinian house and other structures in the occupied West Bank.
Palestine’s official Wafa news agency, citing Fouad al-Amour, a local activist, said Israeli bulldozers escorted by troops raided the village of Birin, south of al-Khalil (Hebron), and demolished a 70-square-meter house on Monday.
He said the bulldozer also demolished a pond used to collect rainwater for agricultural purposes in the same area. Amour warned the demolitions were intended to displace the local population in order to make way for more settlement construction.
The United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report recently that Israeli authorities had demolished more than 50 Palestinian-owned structures across the occupied territories in a time span of two weeks.
Israel routinely demolishes Palestinian houses in the West Bank and East al-Quds, claiming the structures have been built without permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. The regime also sometimes orders Palestinian owners to demolish their own houses or pay the demolition costs instead.
In May 2021, Israel's land grab in the West Bank sparked a war between the military and the Palestinian resistance groups in the Gaza Strip. The conflict lasted 11 days. Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza killed over 250 Palestinians, including 66 children.
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.
