Israeli occupation forces issued demolition notices on Monday for six under‑construction Palestinian homes in the town of Tarqumiyah, west of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.
Journalist Omar Fatafta told WAFA that Israeli forces invaded the Shuab al‑Bir area of Tarqumiyah and delivered demolition orders for six multi‑story homes belonging to Anas and Mohammad Mahmoud Fatafta, Abdel‑Fattah Samir Abu Haltam, Mohammad Rasmi Abu Raye‘a, and two brothers from the Mousa Ja‘afra family.
All of the homeowners possess official documents proving ownership of the land and the structures.
The threatened homes are only a few kilometers from the illegal Israeli colonies of Telem and Adora, both built on privately owned Palestinian land belonging to residents of Tarqumiyah.
Homeowners appealed to international human rights and humanitarian organizations to intervene urgently, warning that Israeli authorities and illegal paramilitary colonizers are working to pressure Palestinian families to abandon their homes and land in order to facilitate further colonial expansion.
In related news, Israeli occupation forces demolished a multi‑story residential building in the Wadi Qaddum area of Ras al‑Amoud in Silwan, south of the Al‑Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, early Monday morning, displacing nearly 100 Palestinian residents.
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.
Last Month, Israeli occupation authorities have issued two new tenders for the construction of a colonial neighborhood in the illegal colony of Adam (Givat Binyamin), built on stolen Palestinian land northeast of occupied Jerusalem.
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.
