Israeli forces demolish homes of 5 Palestinians in West Bank
Israeli regime forces have demolished five Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank despite international condemnation of the demolition campaign against Palestinian property and homes.
B'Tselem, an Israeli rights organization, said the Israeli forces and bulldozers rolled into the village of Um Al-Kheir and leveled five prefabricated shelters early on Tuesday. The village is located south of the West Bank city of al-Khalil, also known as Hebron, and lies close to the illegal Israeli settlement of Carmel.
The latest demolitions reportedly left at least 27 Palestinians homeless, more than half of them children.
According to B'Tselem, which tracks Israel's illegal settlement activities across the occupied Palestinian territories, Israeli police forcibly evacuated residents who attempted to prevent the demolitions.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah strongly denounced the latest destruction, saying, "Israel is relentlessly destroying Palestinians' homes and livelihoods in order to make way for more illegal settlements."
Sources say the demolished houses had been built on the southern tip of the West Bank with aid from the European Union.
In June, the United Nations said Israel’s demolition campaign across the occupied West Bank had increased four times compared to 2015, and left a record number of 808 Palestinians displaced since the start of 2016.
The UN also announced in late April that a total of 588 Palestinian structures had been razed since January, adding that the demolitions have affected more than 1,000 people as they have lost structures related to their source of income.
Much of the international community regards the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories they are built on were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.
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