Over 500 Palestinian Homes Demolished by Israel So Far This Year: UN
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Israeli occupation authorities have demolished more than 500 Palestinian buildings in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip since the start of 2020, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revealed.
The UN agency said that 506 buildings were razed to the ground by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank on the pretext that they did not have building permits, the official website of the UN reported.
According to the official statement, a total of 134 structures have so far been demolished in occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds in 2020 alone.
UNOCHA said that the Israelis brought down 22 buildings over the past two weeks, displacing 50 Palestinians and affecting around 200 others. Eight demolitions out of the 12 in East Jerusalem al-Quds were carried out by the owners themselves in order to avoid fines and fees imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities.
The other 10 demolished structures were located in Area C, which accounts for around 61 percent of the occupied West Bank.
Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem al-Quds, during the 1967 Six Day War. It justifies the demolition of Palestinian homes by saying that they lack building permits, despite the fact that Israel very rarely issues such permits to Palestinians. The Zionist regime, meanwhile, issues thousands of permits to illegal settlers.
