Israeli forces blow up house of slain young Palestinian man in West Bank

Israeli forces have blown up the house belonging to the family of a young Palestinian man who was killed after allegedly carrying out a shooting operation in central Tel Aviv back in March.

Palestinian media reports, quoting witnesses and local residents, said Israeli forces stormed the West Bank town of Ni'lin, near Ramallah, shortly after midnight on Tuesday and raided the home of Mutaz Khawaja.

Israeli military units consisting of at least 50 vehicles surrounded a number of houses, including Khawaja’s building, and forced its residents out before proceeding to detonate it.

Confrontations broke out with the Israeli army in the area after the raid began, with several serious live ammunition injuries reported.

Israeli soldiers used live bullets and sound and toxic gas bombs to disperse the Palestinian protesters seeking to prevent soldiers from proceeding with the demolition.  

In March, Khawaja allegedly carried out a shooting attack that resulted in the killing of one Israeli settler and the injury of others in central Tel Aviv before being killed by Israeli forces. The attack followed an Israeli raid in the Jenin area that left three Palestinians dead that same day.

Israeli police said that at least three were injured, including one critically, when Khawaja opened fire at a group of settlers outside a cafe in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv. 

He reportedly then fled the scene before being shot dead in a shootout with police officers a short time later.

The Palestinian man was shot dead by four armed individuals, including two Israeli police officers who were at the scene, one of whom was off duty. The other two included a settler and a reserve officer, Israeli officials said.

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas back then said the attack was a “natural response” to deadly Israeli military raids in the West Bank but did not explicitly take responsibility for the shooting.

Three Israeli settlers wounded, one critically, in central Tel Aviv shooting

The shooting attack comes hours after Israeli forces killed three Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank.

Over the past months, Israel has ramped up attacks on Palestinian towns and cities throughout the occupied territories. As a result of these attacks, dozens of Palestinians have lost their lives and many others have been arrested.

Local and international rights groups have condemned Israel’s excessive use of force and “shoot-to-kill policy” against Palestinians.

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

The international community views the settlements – hundreds of which have been built across the West Bank since Tel Aviv’s occupation of the territory in 1967 – as illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions due to their construction on the occupied territories.

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