OCCUPIED AL_QUDS, (ST)_ Israeli occupation authorities on Wednesday tore down commercial facilities in Hizma town, northeast of Al-Quds [Jerusalem], according to WAFA News Agency.
The agency reported that Israeli occupation forces cordoned off an area close to the military checkpoint at the entrance of the town, where they demolished eight facilities belonging to al-Khatib family.
Israel demolishes Palestinian houses and structures almost on a daily basis as a means to achieve “demographic control” of the occupied territories.
in Khirbet Ibzeiq village, northeast of Tubas, Israeli occupation forces conducted large-scale demolitions of Palestinian property.
Mu‘taz Besharat, who monitors Israeli colonial settlement activities in Tubas governorate, said that Israeli forces escorted bulldozers into the village, where the heavy machineries have been tearing down residential structures and livestock sheds and sabotaging water tanks and solar panels since 6:00 AM this morning.
The soldiers also seized several agricultural tractors and private vehicles.
Under international law, driving residents of an occupied territory from their homes is considered forcible transfer of protected persons, which constitutes a war crime.
Moreover, The Israeli occupation authorities demolished today an agricultural room and razed a plot of land in Sebastia town, north of Nablus city.
Mayor of Sebastia, Mohammad Azem, told WAFA that a large unit of Israeli soldiers barged their way into the vicinity of the archeological site of Sebastia, tore down an agricultural room belonging to Abdul-Aziz Nabulsi, leveled the plot of land surrounding it and destroyed the fence and the water pipeline network.
Located 11 kilometers to the northwest of Nablus, Sebastia is a small historical town located on a hill with panoramic views across the West Bank and has a population of some 3,000 Palestinians.
Israeli occupation uses the Jewish nationalist name “Judea and Samaria” to refer to the occupied West Bank to reinforce its bogus claims to the territory and to give them a veneer of historical and religious legitimacy.
There are over 700,000 Israeli settlers living in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Compiled by: Basma Qaddour