Israeli occupation forces demolished a Palestinian home on Wednesday in Beit Hanina, north of occupied Jerusalem, displacing an extended family of ten, including a family member with a disability.
Local sources reported that Israeli forces Beit Hanina accompanied by heavy machinery and began demolishing the home of Mahmoud Melihat, which measured roughly 100 square meters. The demolition rendered all residents homeless and without shelter.
The demolition was carried out under the pretext of “building without a permit,” a justification widely used by Israeli authorities to target Palestinian homes in occupied Jerusalem.
Human rights organizations consistently note that Israel’s permit system makes legal construction nearly impossible for Palestinians, turning demolitions into a tool of coercion and collective punishment aimed at pressuring residents to leave their land.
Beit Hanina, like other Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied Jerusalem, faces ongoing demolitions, land seizures, and severe restrictions on Palestinian urban development, while Israeli authorities continue to expand illegal colonies in the area.
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.
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.
