Israeli occupation authorities razed Palestinian stores on Wednesday in the town of Hizma, near Jerusalem, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Mayor of Hizma, Nofan Salahaddin, said that a sizable Israeli police force escorted bulldozers to the main Hizma Street, where the heavy machinery re-demolished 10 commercial structures, reducing them to rubble and depriving 13 families of their source of livelihood.
Demolitions reported today in Hizma, #Jerusalem governorate, #WestBank, occupied #Palestinian territory https://t.co/hG9VUlAUXf pic.twitter.com/62AsTAsOCs
— OCHA oPt (Palestine) (@ochaopt) March 2, 2022
The structures were first demolished some two months ago purportedly for being built in an area under Israeli control.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation authorities demolished a commercial structure in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina.
Police officers and municipal staff escorted a bulldozer to the neighborhood and tore down an office and a concrete pump truck parking lot belonging to the Kiswani family.
They cordoned off the area, preventing news reporters from accessing it. They brutally assaulted members of the Kiswani family who attempted to prevent the demolition and detained a member.
Over the course of 50 years, the family of the Jerusalemite Abdul Aziz al-Khatib in the town of Hizma has been subjected to dozens of demolitions, and the largest of which involved 16 shops few months ago.
Today, Israeli occupation demolished the shops the family had restored. pic.twitter.com/m03r7r6elO
— Palestinian Eve Network+🇵🇸 (@PalEvePlus) November 3, 2021
Using the pretext of illegal building, Israel demolishes houses on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
At the same time, the municipality and government build tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem for Jews with a goal to offset the demographic balance in favor of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city.
(WAFA, PC, Social Media)
