Israel blows up family home of Palestinian shot dead by settlers

Israeli occupation forces this morning blew up the family house of a Palestinian who was shot dead by illegal settlers earlier this year, reported Wafa news agency.

More than 20 military vehicles were deployed as Israeli forces broke into the village of Urif, based south of Nablus, conducting a raid before blowing up the family home of the murdered Palestinian Mohannad Shehadeh.

The demolition came after Israeli soldiers took the measurements of his home. Such demolitions are carried out frequently by the Israeli occupation forces and are regarded as collective punishment by human rights groups. The imposition of collective punishment is akin to a war crime.

Twenty-six-year-old Mohannad Shehadeh was killed after allegedly carrying out a shooting attack near the illegal Israeli settlement of Eli in the occupied West Bank. Four Israelis were killed and others were wounded on the day.

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He was immediately shot and killed by an Israeli settler at the scene of the attack.

The demolition also comes after a report published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) earlier this year called out Israel for its punitive measures against the relatives of those accused of resistance attacks.

“Punitive demolitions are a form of collective punishment and are illegal under international law, because they target the families of the perpetrators of the attacks or the alleged attacks,” explained OCHA.

Under international law, both the West Bank and East Jerusalem are occupied territories. Nablus is surrounded by more than 40 illegal Jewish-only settlements and outposts with settlers continuing to encroach on Palestinian land to expand these illegal spaces under the protection of occupation forces.