Israel demolishes two more Palestinian houses in occupied West Bank  

The Israeli occupation forces today demolished two more Palestinian houses in the village of Al-Baqaa, near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency has reported.

The Israeli forces stormed into the village and proceeded to demolish a three-storey house still under construction belonging to Azzam Jaber. The soldiers also demolished the walls and foundations of a neighbouring house that the family owns, which was razed to the ground by the Israelis in July 2022.

In recent years, Israel has demolished hundreds of homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem on the grounds that they lack a building permit. However, Palestinians are rarely granted such permits by the settler-colonial state.

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With growing families, therefore, Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories either have to extend their homes or build new ones without permits. This makes them subject to demolition by the Israelis. When a demolition notice is served on the homeowners, they are given the option of knocking down their houses themselves or paying the Israeli occupation forces to do it.

While this ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians is ongoing, more than 600,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements for Jews only across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. All of Israel’s settlements are built in violation of international law, under which they are classed as a war crime, as is the movement of citizens into an occupied territory.