21 Palestinians displaced when Israeli demolishes family home in occupied West Bank

Twenty-one Palestinians were displaced Sunday after Israeli forces demolished their family home in the town of Jiyus, north of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, according to a Palestinian rights organization, Anadolu reports.

Bedouin rights group Al-Baydar said the 160-square-meter (1,722-square-foot) house was demolished over the alleged lack of a building permit.

The displaced family includes children and elderly members who were left without shelter following the demolition, it added.

Israeli authorities prohibit construction or land reclamation in Area C of the West Bank without permits that Palestinians say are “nearly impossible” to obtain.

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Israel carried out 59 demolition operations in January, targeting 126 Palestinian structures, including 77 inhabited homes. It also reported 40 additional demolition notices, most of them concentrated in the city of Hebron.

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Separately, the Israeli government on Sunday approved a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as “state property” for the first time since the Israeli occupation of the territory in 1967.

Israel has intensified operations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since launching its military campaign in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023. Palestinians view the escalation – including killings, arrests, displacement, and settlement expansion – as a step toward formal annexation of the territory.

At least 1,112 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, about 11,500 wounded, and more than 21,000 detained during that period, according to Palestinian estimates.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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