United Nations, August 29 (RHC)-- The United Nations says Israeli authorities have torn down, seized, or forced owners to demolish a total of 31 Palestinian-owned buildings across the occupied West Bank in two weeks.

Israel’s punitive measures against these Palestinian-owned structures displaced 32 people, including 14 children, and affected the livelihoods of some 680 others, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest report covering the period between August 10 and 23, Palestine's official Wafa news agency reported on Saturday.

Throughout the years, Israel has frequently demolished Palestinian homes, claiming that the structures have been built without permits, which are nearly impossible to obtain.  The Tel Aviv regime even orders the Palestinian owners to demolish their own homes or pay the demolition costs to the municipality.

A Palestinian official tells representatives of the South American countries the Israeli regime has demolished more than 81 buildings in al-Quds since the beginning of 2021.

According to the bi-weekly Protection of Civilians report, an agriculture road was also leveled by Israeli authorities in Battir village in the Bethlehem district, affecting access to land for about 100 Palestinian families.

Moreover, some 100 children were affected by the demolition of an extension to a building planned to be used as a kindergarten in the Beit Safafa, a Palestinian town along the so-called Green Line in the occupied East al-Quds.

Israel has demolished more than 420 Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank so far this year, an earlier OCHA said.  Palestinians as well as the international community consider Israeli demolition politics in the occupied territories as illegal.

Israel’s demolition of Palestinian water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure threatens the Palestinians’ right to life.