UN: Israel demolished, confiscated 24 structures in West Bank in two weeks

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)  said that over the past two weeks, Israel has demolished, seized, or forced the demolition of 24 Palestinian-owned structures across the occupied West Bank under the pretext that they lacked building permits.

OCHA’s Protection of Civilians Report for the period from 15-28 June 2021, said Israeli occupation authorities demolished a house in Ras Al-Amud and a shop in Silwan in the occupied city of Jerusalem, amid protests by their Palestinian owners during which the Israeli army fired tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets, injuring at least 19 people, including a woman, and arresting nine others.

According to the report, the demolitions displaced 23 people, including 11 children, and affected more than 1,200 others.

Most of those affected were in the Masafer Yatta area of Hebron in the southern West Bank, where Israel destroyed three roads and the main water pipeline serving several communities for the second time on 23 June, after destroying them on 9 June.

UN OCHA also reported that 180 Palestinians were detained during this period, including seven children.

READ: Settlers take over Palestinian building in Jerusalem’s Silwan