Israeli forces on Thursday destroyed over 40 Palestinian homes and structures in the Tubas district of the occupied West Bank as ongoing Israeli policies in the Jordan Valley continue to drive Palestinians out of their homes.
A Palestinian official from the governor’s office in Tubas, Mutaz Bsharat, told Ma’an that Israeli forces and bulldozers stormed the Palestinian communities of al-Farisiya and Khallet al-Khader and demolished seven homes, displacing seven families.
Forces also demolished 35 structures in the Bardala and Ein al-Baida communities, Bsharat added.
Tubas Mayor Rabih Khandaqji told Ma’an that local and international organizations were carrying out efforts to aid Palestinians displaced during the demolitions and to rebuild destroyed structures.
Israel has carried out near-daily demolitions in the occupied Palestinian territory since the start of this month and destroyed 42 Palestinian-owned structures in the last week of January alone, displacing 168 people, including 94 children.
The communities targeted in Thursday’s demolitions are all located in Area C, the over 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli military control where building permits are near-impossible for Palestinians to obtain from Israel.
As a result, Palestinian communities are forced to build illegally and face the constant threat of demolition and displacement.
In addition to demolition, Israeli rights group B’Tselem earlier this month pointed to the use of Israeli military training exercises as a means of forcible displacement of Palestinians from the Jordan Valley.
(MAAN)
