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UN says Israel razed, seized 31 Palestinian-owned structures in West Bank in 2 weeks

An Israeli excavator is demolishing a Palestinian house in the Silwan neighborhood, in the eastern sector of the occupied al-Quds city. (File photo)

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.

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.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on occupied land. The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.


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