Israel Razes More Palestinian Homes, Illegal Settlers Burn Wedding Hall in West Bank
RAMALLAH (Dispatches) –
Zionist troops demolished three more Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, witnesses said.
Two houses inhabited by ten Palestinians were razed in Burqin town, west of Salfit city, Wassim Sabra, one of the owners, told Anadolu.
A third house was demolished in Wadi Fukin village, west of Bethlehem city, for an alleged lack of building permits, witnesses said.
The occupying regime widely uses the pretext of a lack of construction permits to demolish Palestinian homes, especially in Area C in the occupied West Bank, which is under the occupying regime’s so-called ‘administrative and security control,’ and constitutes around 60% of the West Bank.
Under the 1995 Oslo Accords between the Zionist regime and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the West Bank, including East Al-Quds, was divided into three portions – Area A, B, and C.
Meanwhile, illegal settlers set fire to a wedding hall in the town of Bidya, west of Salfit city, witnesses said.
According to the official news agency Wafa, settlers spray-painted racist anti-Arab graffiti on walls in the town, including “death to Arabs.”
Home demolitions and settler violence against Palestinians have escalated in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Zionist regime’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.
At least 945 Palestinians have since been killed and over 7,000 others injured in the occupied territory, according to Palestinian figures.
In another development, the Zionist regime’s army rounded up at least 35 more Palestinians in fresh military raids in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, according to prisoners’ affairs groups.
The arrests took place in several towns and areas in the West Bank, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.
During the raids, Israeli army forces stormed several Palestinian homes, vandalized properties, and interrogated dozens of people, the statement said.
The raids came as the Israeli army has continued a deadly military aggression in the northern West Bank since January, killing over 70 Palestinians, displacing thousands, and turning many homes into military outposts.
Tuesday’s arrests brought the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank since October 2023 to over 15,800, including those who were released after being arrested, according to Palestinian figures.