Israel demolishes Palestinian homes amid coronavirus crisis

A video has emerged showing Israeli bulldozers demolishing Palestinian homes near the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank.

News ID: 449800

Date: 29 March 2020 - 09:14

RNA - Palestine's official Wafa news agency reported that Israeli troops using bulldozers stormed the al-Dyouk village northwest of Jericho and started demolishing the houses.

Israeli forces also raided the northern occupied West Bank village of Ibziq, demolishing residential homes, as well as destroying pumps which were used to generate electricity and pump water to the residents.

The Israeli forces also seized unconstructed tents and bricks for construction, which were intended for the mosque, clinic, and council offices.

Israeli authorities demolish Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank on a regular basis usually claiming that the residential structures have been built without the relevant building permits.

The residents, however, say they do not need Israeli permission to build their homes because they have received approvals from the Palestinian Authority, which is tasked with running the West Bank affairs.

In a report in May last year, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem said Israeli authorities had forced nearly 3,000 Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem al-Quds in the past 15 years.

Israel has been occupying the West Bank, including East al-Quds, since 1967. Ever since, it has been building settlements throughout the land, in a move condemned by the UN and considered illegal under international law.

International bodies and rights groups say the Israeli demolition of Palestinian structures in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds is an attempt 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 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, al-Quds.

The latest demolitions come as Palestinian territories are struggling to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.

Earlier this month Palestine declared a state of emergency in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip over the coronavirus, prompting a lockdown in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.

The news of the coronavirus infections has sent shock waves across the Gaza Strip, where some two million inhabitants live under inhumane conditions due to inhumane practices by the Israeli regime.

The United Nations has warned that a coronavirus outbreak in the Gaza Strip could be disastrous.

People in the Gaza Strip are praying for a miracle to stop the coronavirus pandemic after the first case was confirmed in the besieged coastal enclave. Suffering under the Israeli blockade, Gaza’s health system has been shrinking and the clinical facilities are already grappling with shortages of medicine and supplies.

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