Israeli army demolishes 7 Palestinian homes in occupied West Bank, displacing over 20

The Israeli army demolished seven Palestinian homes across the occupied West Bank on Thursday, displacing more than 20 Palestinians, according to local sources and officials. Palestinian sources told Anadolu that Israeli forces, accompanied by a military bulldozer, entered the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, west of Salfit in the northern West Bank, on Thursday morning. The forces demolished a single-story home in the al-Aqda area, the sources said.

The house covered approximately 100 square meters (1,076 square feet), they added. The sources said Israeli forces also issued a stop-work order to another resident of the area, ordering him to halt construction of his home. They added that authorities had previously issued around 10 demolition notices for inhabited homes in the same area. In Furush Beit Dajan village, east of Nablus in the northern West Bank, Israeli bulldozers demolished a home, according to the sources.

In the town of Biddu, northwest of Jerusalem, Israeli army bulldozers demolished five homes without prior warning, displacing more than 20 Palestinians, according to the Jerusalem Governorate. The governorate said the demolitions were carried out on the grounds that the structures had been built without permits. Israeli forces routinely demolish Palestinian homes and structures on the grounds that they lack construction permits. Palestinian, Israeli, and international rights groups say such permits are rarely granted to Palestinians, while Israeli settlement construction continues to receive approvals.

In a statement, the Jerusalem Governorate said Israeli forces entered Biddu with demolition equipment after bulldozing land and uprooting trees near a military checkpoint at the neighboring town of Beit Iksa. Separately, three Israeli rights groups said Israeli authorities had begun demolishing homes in a Palestinian Bedouin community east of occupied East Jerusalem for the first time since plans for the controversial E1 settlement project were recently revived.

Peace Now, Ir Amim and Bimkom said in a joint statement that Israeli authorities demolished roughly half of the structures in the Bir al-Maskoub Bedouin community on Tuesday, displacing around 20 Palestinians. The demolitions targeted about four residential compounds containing homes, kitchens, and sanitation facilities, while Israeli authorities renewed demolition orders dating back to 2008 against all remaining structures in the community, according to the groups.

The organizations warned that the move could signal a transition from planning to implementation of the E1 project and said other Bedouin communities in the area, home to hundreds of Palestinians, could also face displacement. The E1 plans envision the construction of 3,401 settlement units between the occupied East Jerusalem and the illegal Ma'ale Adumim settlement. Rights groups warn that implementation would sever the northern occupied West Bank from the south and further isolate East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings.

In another development, Israeli forces detained 35 Palestinians during raids across the occupied West Bank early Thursday, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Media Office. The office said five Palestinians were detained in the Qalqilya, Nablus, and Hebron governorates, while another 30 were detained during a raid on the Dheisheh refugee camp south of Bethlehem. Israeli forces raided homes in the camp and searched their contents before releasing the 30 detainees after questioning, the office added.

The occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has seen escalating Israeli military attacks and occupier violence since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023. The attacks have included killing and detaining Palestinians, demolishing homes and other structures, burning mosques and vehicles, bulldozing farmland, preventing farmers from accessing their fields, and displacing Palestinian communities, alongside illegal settlement expansion.