Israeli forces destroy home of Palestinian detainee, injure three in ensuing clashes

Israeli forces have demolished the family home of a Palestinian detainee accused of killing a settler last December, sparking violent clashes with Palestinians.

Local sources said an Israeli army unit raided the town of Silat al-Harithiya, west of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, on Saturday morning and destroyed the family home of Palestinian prisoner Omar Jaradat, Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported.

They said the Israeli army demolished the walls of the house, making it impossible to live in.

Three Palestinians were also injured by live bullets during the clashes that erupted after the Israeli raid.

Omar Jaradat’s home is the fourth family home the regime has demolished as a collective punitive measure for the killing of the Israeli settler.

According to a statement by the Israeli army, the regime’s forces used explosives to destroy the house.

It said Palestinians threw stones and Molotov cocktails, to which Israeli troops responded with semi-automatic fire.

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Hamas slams demolition as ‘cowardly terrorist act’

Meanwhile, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas slammed the demolition as a “cowardly terrorist act” against Palestinians.

“The demolition is a Zionist crime that falls within the policy of collective punishment practiced by the occupying power against our people,” Abd al-Hakim Huneini, a leader of the Gaza-based resistance group, said in a statement.

Huneini underlined that the atrocious policy will not succeed in disheartening the Palestinian people in their fight and resistance for their homeland.

He added that the more the occupation increases its brutality, the more the Palestinian people insist on continuing the path of resistance and defending themselves by all means.

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Ezzat al-Resheq, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, said the demolition of homes of Palestinians, most recently the house of Omar Jaradat, “is a continuation of Zionist crimes, which will not bring security to [the regime] and its settlers.”

“Israel’s criminal policies will not end the confusion and crises" of it and military and "will increase the anger and persistence of the Palestinian people to resist and confront them on every inch of our land,” al-Resheq added.

The Tel Aviv regime regularly destroys the homes of Palestinians it blames for attacks on Israeli settlers, in an act of collective punishment condemned by human rights activists.

Thousands of Palestinians, in spite of the fact that they had done nothing wrong and were not suspected of any wrongdoing, have been displaced due to the regime’s cruel policy since 1967.

Back in January, the occupation authorities informed four Palestinian families of their decision to demolish their houses in Silat al-Harithiya for the December attack. It went on to demolish the homes one by one.

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