Israel to demolish house of alleged Palestinian shooter

JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli army on Tuesday ordered the demolition of the house of a Palestinian man accused of killing two settlers in the West Bank last month.

Maj. Gen. Nadav Padan issued the order to raze the two-storey house of Ashraf Naalwa in the town of Shweika in the northern West Bank, according to the Israeli military.

“The order was signed after a challenge by the attacker’s family against the demolition order was rejected,” an army spokesperson said in a statement.

“[Naalwa] family has until Sunday to appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court against the demolition order decision,” he said.

Last month, two Israelis were killed and another was injured in a shooting attack in an industrial area near the settlement of Barkan in the central West Bank.

Israeli authorities accuse Naalwa of carrying out the attack and have launched a massive manhunt to arrest him.

The Israeli army uses the emergency law of the British Mandate in 1945 to demolish Palestinian homes, whose owners allegedly carried out attacks against Israelis.

Israel’s top court usually rejects Palestinians' appeals against the demolition of their homes.