Israel Army Reduces Palestinian House to Rubble in Qabatiya

Jenin, MINA –  The Israeli occupation army at dawn Friday demolished a house belonging to the family of Palestinian prisoner Mohamed Abul-Rab in Qabatiya town, south of Jenin in the West Bank, as a punitive measure for its son’s killing of an Israeli settler last October.

Local sources said that a large number of Israeli soldiers aboard military vehicles and one bulldozer entered the neghibhrood where the house of the prisoner’s father is located and cordoned off the area, PIC reported.

They added that some soldiers were deployed on rooftops of nearby homes before the bulldozers embarked on knocking down the house.

Consequently, some young men tried to obstruct the demolition of the house and hurled stones at the soldiers, who responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

Several young men and citizens inside homes suffered from inhaling tear gas during the events and one sustained a rubber bullet injury. Meanwhile, the Israeli military force stormed nearby homes and assaulted its residents during its presence in the neighborhood.

Ziyad Abul-Rab, Mohamad’s father, said the Israeli military authorities had informed his son’s lawyer that the family must leave their home prior to its demolition. The father said, prior to this notification the high Israeli court rejected a plea submitted by the lawyer against the intended demolition.

His son was convicted by an Israeli court of murdering an Israeli settler in the Arab town of Kafr Qasem, in central Israel, in early October.(R/R04/RS5)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)