Settlers demolish 15 Palestinian homes, residents say, as West Bank attacks continue |
Israeli settlers demolished around 15 Palestinian homes and an animal pen in a West Bank village near Jericho, residents and activists told AFP on Wednesday.
The reported violent incident on Tuesday was one of a few to take place in the West Bank, amid a months-long rise in settler attacks and a continuing IDF crackdown on terror groups.
They also came days after the security cabinet approved measures to tighten Israeli control over the West Bank, meant to pave the way for further settlement expansion. On Wednesday, the United States, which has opposed Israeli annexation of the West Bank, flatly denied reports it was opening an embassy branch in the settlement of Efrat.
In addition, on Wednesday, a Palestinian water provider said its workers were assaulted by settlers. The IDF, meanwhile, said it had arrested a string of Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives in the territory.
In Al‑Duyuk Al‑Tahta, the village near Jericho, structures, several of them tin shacks, were torn down, residents said.
“About 50 settlers arrived, forced everyone out of the houses, and began demolishing them. Then they took everything — even the chickens,” village resident Mustafa Kaabneh, who has lived in the area for nearly two decades, told AFP.
He said most of the settlers were armed and masked and were accompanied by an Israel Defense Forces vehicle before returning with a bulldozer. The military did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Another resident, Bassem Kaabneh, 23, said settlers beat women and children, expelled families from their homes, and seized personal belongings.
“They told me: ‘Enough, you don’t have a home here anymore.'”
Abu Audi Al‑Rajabi, who owns one of the demolished houses, said no demolition order had been issued. “The house was built 13 years ago and has been lived in ever since,” he said.
Rajabi, who primarily resides in Jerusalem, said he was unable to reach the area because it had been sealed off.
Local activist Jihad Mahaless said the demolished homes lie in Area C, a part of the West Bank that, under the 1990s-era Oslo Accords, falls under full Israeli control.
He said five of the........