Earlier Monday, Israeli soldiers demolished an under-construction home in Um Safa village, northwest of Ramallah, in the central part of the occupied West Bank.
Marwan Sabah, the head of Um Safa Village Council, said the soldiers invaded the Al-Ras Mountain area east of the village after isolating it.
Sabah added that the soldiers demolished a 200-square-meter home owned by Khaled Qar’an and bulldozed nearby streets and farmlands.
Many Palestinians protested the invasion before the soldiers fired gas bombs and concussion grenades.
The Israeli army claims that the home, licensed by the local village council, did not receive a permit from the so-called Civil Administration Office, the administrative branch of Israel’s illegal occupation.
According to data from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition (ICAHD), Israel demolished 131.000 Palestinian homes since 1947, including 926 structures demolished in 2022, displacing 953 Palestinians and directly affecting 28.255 persons.
Israel’s illegal home demolition policy is internationally prohibited; according to Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, “No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and, likewise, all measures of intimidation or terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.”
While Israel continues to build and expand its illegal colonies, Palestinian communities and towns in occupied Jerusalem and various areas in the occupied West Bank continue to be denied the right to build homes and property under various allegations meant to prevent the expansion of Palestinian towns and neighborhoods.
Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory.”
