Israeli forces demolished the house of a Palestinian inmate, Yehya Miri, accused by the regime of carrying out a deadly shooting attack in the settlement of Ariel, in the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan in the occupied West Bank July 26, 2022. (Photo by AFP)
Ramallah, July 28 (RHC)-- Israeli authorities have razed down six houses in Jericho in the occupied West Bank, a continuation of what rights advocates denounce as the regime’s policy of dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
The regime’s forces raided the region on Wednesday and flattened six residential structures with bulldozers, Palestinian media reported.
Similarly on Tuesday, the Israeli military bulldozers had demolished two houses belonging to Palestinian inmates, Yusef Aasi and Yehya Miri, whom the regime has accused of killing a settler in the West Bank village of Qarawat Bani Hasan back in April.
On the same day, Israeli forces bulldozed a café in the north of the occupied territories and flattened a home that was under construction in a village southwest of the city of Jenin.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that Israeli authorities confiscated large swathes of land and demolished more than 50 Palestinian-owned structures across the occupied West Bank between June 28 and July 18.
The OCHA said in its biweekly 'Protection of Civilians' report that some 47 of the targeted structures were demolished in Area C, which constitutes 61 percent of the West Bank and has been designated as ‘firing zones’ for Israeli military training.
Four structures were demolished in East al-Quds, including one home that was destroyed by its owners who carried out the demolition in order to avoid paying the fines issued by Israeli authorities.
The OCHA also said that on four occasions Israeli forces conducted military training exercises near 13 Palestinian herding communities in the Masafer Yatta area, south of al-Khalil. The drills restricted the access of Palestinians to basic services and put their safety at risk, displacing 40 people, including 21 children, and the livelihoods of about 500 others.
An Israeli court recently approved the forcible eviction and expulsion of 1,144 people, including 569 children, living in Masafer Yatta.
Israeli forces have frequently issued demolition and construction halt notices and flattened Palestinian houses in the area, accusing the owners of lacking building permits. A United Nations study says such permits are “virtually impossible” to obtain.
Critics say the demolitions are political in nature and part of the regime’s policy of dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Israel occupied the West Bank, including the western part of the holy city of al-Quds, in 1967. It later annexed East al-Quds, which Palestinians want as the capital of their future state.
Between 600,000 and 750,000 Israelis occupy over 250 illegal settlements that have been built across the West Bank since the 1967 occupation. The UN Security Council has in several resolutions condemned the Tel Aviv regime’s settlement projects in the occupied Palestinian lands.
