The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinians and demolished 20 Palestinian-owned buildings in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds from January 15 to 28. RNA - In its latest report, OCHA said Israeli soldiers shot and killed a man in Nablus on January 21, a teenage boy near a village in Ramallah on January 25, and another man in East Jerusalem al-Quds on the same day.
The first man was killed over an alleged stabbing attack, the minor over alleged stone throwing, and the third Palestinian after he purportedly failed to stop his vehicle after an order.
The report added that the three separate killings brought to 11 the number of the Palestinians shot dead by Israeli troops in the West Bank since the beginning of December last year.
The Israeli military regularly opens fatal fire on Palestinians, accusing them of seeking to attack its personnel.
Human rights groups have repeatedly slammed the Tel Aviv regime for its shoot-to-kill policy.
“In the West Bank, the Israeli authorities demolished 20 Palestinian-owned structures, displacing 26 Palestinians, and affecting the livelihood of 54 others,” the OCHA further said, confirming that 19 of the buildings — 13 of which were in Area C — had been demolished due to the lack of difficult-to-obtain Israeli building permits.
Area C, which is under full Israeli control, makes up more than 60 percent of the entire occupied West Bank. Eighty eight percent of the area lies in the strategic Jordan Valley, which comprises a third of the occupied West Bank.
According to Press TV, the Israeli authorities frequently demolish Palestinian buildings and residences in Area C, with Bedouin and herding communities being particularly vulnerable to that practice.
The OCHA report further said that Israeli forces had uprooted 1,250 Palestinian-owned olive trees in the West Bank, affecting the livelihood of six families.
International bodies and rights groups argue that Israel’s sustained demolitions of Palestinian homes and structures in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds are an attempt by the Tel Aviv regime to uproot Palestinians from their native territory and confiscate more land for the expansion of illegal settlements.
About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.
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