AL-QUDS (Dispatches) – Zionist troops this morning raided the Silwan neighborhood in occupied East al-Quds, amid plans to demolish Palestinian homes in the area.
According to local residents, Zionist troops fired tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets at the Palestinians who had gathered to stop the demolitions in the Al-Bustan neighborhood. Mosques called on residents to gather to protect their homes, eyewitnesses said.
Local officials in Silwan warned of the occupying regime’s plans to demolish around 100 homes in Al-Bustan under the pretext that they lack the almost impossible to obtain building permits in order to construct a biblical garden.
Zionist troops accompanied by bulldozers entered the neighborhood and destroyed a butcher’s shop in Silwan.
Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Silwan, said Zionist troops arrived in large numbers early on Tuesday and there were “significant confrontations”.
“We spoke to the family [that owned the butchery] and they said Israeli forces came in and attacked them using tear gas and other means – a violent start to these demolitions. But this is not just about one shop. There are 20 other units that are in the same situation in this neighborhood,” he said.
The regime’s authorities have already issued demolition orders to 13 Palestinian homes in Al-Bustan quarter.
Human rights groups have said the regime is ethnically cleansing the East al-Quds neighborhood and colonizing the occupied territories.
Meanwhile, The United Nations catalogues numerous “grave” violations, including many deadly ones, by the Zionist regime against Palestinian children across the Palestinian territories in 2020.
The numbers came up in the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ annual report on “children and armed conflict,” that was released on Monday.
The violations took place against children in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, the Tel Aviv-besieged West Bank, and the rest of the occupied territories throughout last year.
They targeted 340 Palestinian youngsters, including seven who were killed at the hands of the regime’s troops, the report said. The fatalities were caused “by live ammunition (6) and physical assault during arrest (1),” it noted.
“The United Nations verified the detention of 361 Palestinian children for alleged security offenses by Israeli forces,” said the document.
“Eighty-seven children reported ill-treatment and breaches of due process by Israeli forces while in detention, with 83 percent reporting physical violence,” it read.
The report also said the UN had verified 30 attacks on schools and hospitals attributed to Zionist troops and illegal settlers.