OCHA: Israeli Demolished Nine Palestinian-Owned Structures in Two Weeks

Ramallah, MINA – The Israeli authorities demolished nine Palestinian-owned structures due to the lack of building permits during the past two weeks, displacing a family of eight and affecting 19 others in four communities in Area C of the West Bank, said the UN-OCHA in its biweekly humanitarian bulletin on Israeli violations in Palestine.

The displacement took place in the Bedouin community of Ein ad Duyuk at Tahta, near Jericho, where the occupation authorities demolished an inhabited caravan provided as humanitarian assistance. Another five aid structures, including residential tents and animal shelters, were demolished in the nearby community of Deir al Qilt.

During the same period, OCHA said five Palestinians were injured and around 470 Palestinian-owned olive trees and saplings damaged by Israeli settlers. Four of the injuries were caused by physical assault in the Israeli-controlled area of Hebron city (H2), and the villages of At Tuwani, near Hebron, and Jibiya, near Ramallah.

In addition, around 200 olive trees belonging to farmers from Turmus’ayya and Al Mughayyir villages, near Ramallah, were vandalized, reportedly by settlers from the adjacent Adei Ad settlement outpost. Most of these trees are located on a plot where Palestinian access is restricted by a ‘prior coordination’ system. Assailants, believed to be from the same settlement outpost, also dismantled a fence around another plot and stole dozens of wooden poles.

Around 120 additional trees were cut down in the villages of Ras Karkar (Ramallah), Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya), As Sawiya and Qaryut (both in Nablus). Near Fuqeiqis village (Hebron), settlers uprooted around 1,000 seasonal vegetable seedlings and 150 olive saplings, while in Khirbet Samra village (Tubas) they grazed their livestock on 100 dunums of land planted with seasonal vegetables damaging the crops.

Settler-related violence has been on the rise since the beginning of March, according to the UN organization, with the weekly average of incidents resulting in injuries or property damage increasing by over 80 per cent compared to January-February.

In the meantime, Israeli forces carried out a total of 99 search and arrest operations across the West Bank and arrested over 100 Palestinians. The majority of the operations (45) and arrests (55) were registered in East Jerusalem, 18 in the Hebron governorate and 14 in the Ramallah governorate.

In the Gaza Strip, OCHA said that on at least 48 occasions, Israeli forces opened warning fire in the areas adjacent to Israel’s perimeter fence and off the coast of Gaza while enforcing access restrictions. One fisherman was injured by a rubber bullet in the head, and two boats were damaged. On two occasions, Israeli forces entered Gaza and carried out land-levelling and excavation operations near the perimeter fence, east of Jabaliya and Rafah.(T/R3/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)