Israeli forces demolished two Palestinian homes on Thursday in the village of al-Birin, east of Yatta and south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank’s southern part.
Farid Burqan, head of the al-Birin Village Council, said Israeli forces invaded the village and used bulldozers to demolish two inhabited homes in the Khallet Al-Furn and Joret Al-Kamoun areas. The homes belonged to Wael Gheith and Hamza Al-Zein.
According to Burqan, Gheith’s home measured approximately 100 square meters, while Al-Zein’s home measured around 80 square meters.
The demolitions, which displaced two families, come amid a broader increase in Israeli destruction of Palestinian property across the occupied West Bank.
On Wednesday, Israeli occupation forces demolished three Palestinian homes belonging to the Alqam family in the Al-Ashqariya neighborhood of Beit Hanina, north of occupied Jerusalem, while also uprooting trees and destroying surrounding agricultural land.
The Colonization & Wall Resistance Commission reported that Israeli authorities carried out 80 demolition operations last month, targeting 165 structures.
These included 80 inhabited homes, eight uninhabited homes, 63 agricultural facilities, and 11 sources of livelihood; the document does not identify the remaining three structures.
The highest number of demolished structures was recorded in Qalqilia in the northwestern West Bank, with 34 structures affected, followed by 26 in Hebron, 22 in Ramallah and Al-Bireh in the central West Bank, and 16 in the Bethlehem governorate.
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.
