Israel demolishes 2 Palestinian homes in West Bank amid tension

By Awad al-Rujoub

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – The Israeli army demolished two Palestinian-owned homes in the West Bank on Monday, in the latest demolitions in the occupied territory.

Azzam Jaber said Israeli bulldozers razed his three-storey house in al-Baqaa town, east of Hebron, citing lack of a building permit.

An under-construction house was also demolished in Yatta town, south of Hebron, for lack of a construction permit, according to Fouad al-Amour, the coordinator of a local committee against demolitions.

Israel widely uses the pretext of lack of construction permits to demolish Palestinian homes, especially in Area C in the occupied West Bank, which constitutes around 60% of its space.

The demolitions came as tension continues to escalate in Hebron amid Palestinian complaints of rising settler attacks against their property.

According to the state news agency Wafa on Monday, Israeli settlers chopped down nearly 100 olive trees in the village of Tarqumiyah, northwest of Hebron.

On Sunday, Manal Daana, an activist working with the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, told Anadolu Agency that at least 10 Palestinian vehicles were damaged in attacks by Israeli settlers in Hebron.

On Saturday, an Israeli settler was killed and two others were injured in an attack in the Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron. Palestinians say the attack was a response to escalating settler attacks on their homes and property in the city.

Israeli and Palestinian estimates indicate there are about 650,000 settlers living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the West Bank, including in occupied East Jerusalem.

Under international law, all Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are considered illegal.

Writing by Ahmed Asmar