Israeli forces, on Tuesday, demolished two homes belonging to the families of Palestinians who carried out attacks on Israelis last year, just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a new process to expedite home demolitions.Locals in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabbir told Ma’an News Agency that, early on Tuesday morning, Israeli forces stormed the homes of Muhammad Jaabis and Ghassan Abu Jamal and demolished them with explosives.
Ghassan Abu Jamal was shot dead along with his cousin, Uday, after they killed four Israelis in a high-profile attack on a synagogue, in November of last year.
Separately, Jaabis was shot dead when he ran an excavator into an Israeli bus, killing one and injuring several others.
Locals said that neighboring homes sustained damage during Tuesday’s demolitions.
Meanwhile, in a third house, also in East Jerusalem, Israelis forces filled a room with concrete.
Israeli forces stormed and ransacked the home of Mutaz Hijazi’s family in Silwan neighborhood, before filling Hijazi’s former room with concrete.
Hijazi was shot dead on the roof of the house on Oct. 30, 2014, after he was accused of the attempted assassination of right-wing rabbi activist Yehuda Glick.
Israeli forces reportedly detained all family members and moved them away from the home.
‘No restrictions’ for Israeli forces
The demolitions followed a marathon 6-hour meeting of Israel’s security cabinet on Monday night, during which Netanyahu reportedly called on Israel’s Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked to find ways to speed up the legal process for the demolition of ‘terrorists’ homes.’
Education Minister Naftali Bennett used the same meeting to call for a policy of new settlement construction following every Palestinian attack.
Ahead of the meeting, Netanyahu had pledged new measures including swifter demolition of homes belonging to Palestinians accused of attacks on Israelis and broader use of administrative detention.
In a statement released by his office on Monday, the Israeli prime minister said that extra troops had been deployed across the occupied Palestinian territory who were ‘going deeply into the Arab neighborhoods, which has not been done in the past.’
He pledged to ‘demolish terrorists’ homes,’ and said that his government was ‘allowing our forces to take strong action against those who throw rocks and firebombs.’
By Monday evening, two Palestinians had been killed in clashes, including a 13-year-old boy. Around 500 more had been injured, including 41 with live rounds, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
‘We are not prepared to give immunity to any rioter, inciter or terrorist anywhere,’ Netanyahu said, adding that there were ‘no restrictions on the action of our security forces.’
The Israeli army confirmed Tuesday’s demolitions, saying they were carried out on the directive of Israeli Minister of Defense Moshe Ya’alon.
