Israel delivers demolition orders for more Palestinian homes

Israeli forces delivered demolition orders to a number of homes in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, according to local media reports.

An under-construction home in the town of Beit Jala in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem has been slated for demolition by Israeli authorities, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Tuesday.

According to the report, homeowner Issa Abdullah Hafi was notified by Israeli authorities of their intention to demolish the home he was building, under the pretext that it was built without Israeli permission.

A spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for enforcing Israeli policies in the occupied territory, told Ma’an they could not provide comment on the issue without Hafi’s identification number or the case number on the demolition warrant, to which Ma’an did not have access.

Meanwhile, Jerusalem-based outlet al-Quds news reported that Israeli forces raided the town of al-Mughayyir in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah and delivered an unspecified number of demolition orders to homes there, sparking clashes between locals and Israeli soldiers.

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Israeli forces demolished 1,093 Palestinian homes across the occupied Palestinian territory in 2016, displacing 1,601 Palestinians, when Palestinians experienced the highest number of Israeli demolitions since rights groups began recording the incidents.

At least 417 Palestinians have already been displaced since the start of this year as a result of Israeli demolitions, according to UN documentation.