By Qais Abu Samra and Ahmed Asmar
RAMALLAH, Palestine / ANKARA (AA) – Illegal Israeli settlers burned Palestinian agricultural lands in the West Bank on Monday as the army demolished Palestinian structures in the occupied territory.
“Illegal settlers set fire to crops in Ein Samiya town, east of Ramallah city, destroying tens of dunams (1 dunam = 1,000 square meters) of farmland,” Palestinian activist Bashar al-Qaryouti told Anadolu.
He said settlers also attacked passing Palestinian cars with stones.
Illegal setters also set ablaze olive groves in the villages of Salem and Beit Dajan near Nablus city, according to Muhammad Abu Thabit, a local activist.
He said vast areas of farmland were destroyed in the arson attacks, including ancient olive trees.
Meanwhile, Israeli military bulldozers demolished a two-story home and sheep farm for the alleged lack of a building permit in Khalil al-Louz area, east of Bethlehem city in the southern West Bank.
Hasan Brijieh, a representative of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission in Bethlehem, condemned the home demolition as "an Israeli pressure tactic to force Palestinians to leave their land."
The commission reported 73 Israeli demolition operations in April alone, including 96 inhibited homes and 34 agricultural structures.
Since the start of the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, nearly 970 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers across the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The International Court of Justice declared last July that Israel’s longstanding occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.