Illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers invaded the Khalayel al-Louz area east of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, on Thursday, destroying a greenhouse and burying a water well belonging to Palestinian farmers.
Local resident Mahmoud Obeyyat told reporters that colonizers stormed the area, vandalized a plastic greenhouse and a water well, and seized approximately 20 reinforced iron poles.
Obeyyat added that the equipment belonged to his brother Mohammad, whose farm had previously been demolished by Israeli forces.
In recent weeks, Israeli occupation forces and colonizers have escalated their attacks on Palestinian property in Khalayel al-Louz.
These violations include the demolition of agricultural rooms and livestock farms, the uprooting of trees, land bulldozing, and assaults on homes—all part of a broader campaign to forcibly displace residents for colonial expansion.
At dawn Thursday, Israeli colonizers set fire to the Hajja Hamida Mosque, located between the towns of Deir Istiya and Kifl Haris, near Salfit. in the central part of the occupied West Bank.
On Wednesday, illegal Israeli colonizers carried out a number of attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, resulting in the injury of at least four citizens, including a woman in Bethlehem, Jericho, and Salfit. Occupation forces razed land and expropriated 38 dunams of land belonging to the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron in the southern West Bank.
It is worth mentioning that official Israeli police data reveals a staggering 73% drop in investigations into violent crimes committed by Israeli colonizers against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank over the past two years.
All of 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 in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
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”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
