Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, displacing 42 people, including 24 children, and otherwise affecting about 120 others, citing the lack of building permits, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory in its Protection of Civilians report covering the period between 2 and 15 March 2021.
In its report, OCHA said that seventeen of the structures, and all of the displaced people, were recorded in Area C, which is under full Israeli military control.
Two buildings were demolished in Ein Shibli village, in the Nablus area, displacing 17 people, on the basis of Military Order 1797, which allows for demolitions within 96 hours of the issuance of a ‘removal order.’
The remaining displacement resulted from the demolition of four homes in al Tuwani and Khallet Athaba’ communities in Hebron, and in Beit Jala in Bethlehem.
It pointed out that the livelihood of 20 people was affected by the demolition of a vegetable stall near Qalqilya city, while 16 were affected by the demolition of two uninhabited houses and the confiscation of one metal container in Isteih in the Jericho area. Two of the nine structures targeted in East Jerusalem were demolished by the owner.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers injured six Palestinians in the Hebron governorate and damaged Palestinian-owned property, including vehicles and trees. Four of the injured were physically assaulted in three incidents.
Two boys, aged 13 and 14, were injured in two separate incidents in the H2 area of Hebron city and the Bir al ‘Idd area, respectively; in the latter incident, the donkey on which the boy was riding was stabbed.
A man and a woman were attacked with clubs near the Mantikat Shi’b al Butum, where the man sustained severe head injuries. The remaining two injured were herders stoned and attacked with knives near Bani Na’im near Hebron and three of their sheep were injured. On a number of other occasions in Hebron (Saadet Tha'lah) and Bethlehem (Kisan), Israeli settlers chased herders out of the area.
At least 42 trees and saplings were uprooted in Kafr Qaddum village near Qalqilya and al-Tuwani; agricultural tools were also stolen in the Kafr Qaddum incident. Palestinians reported that settlers had grazed their livestock on land belonging to Palestinians from Yanun village near Nablus, damaging olive trees, and attacked farmers working their land in Ein Samiya near Ramallah, damaging a tractor.
According to Palestinian sources, Israeli settlers damaged at least five vehicles, a house and an agricultural structure in the villages of Jalud and Huwwara in the Nablus district, and Kafr ad Dik and Bruqin in the Salfit district.
On 10 March, five Palestinian boys, aged about 10, were held by settlers while picking wild herbs near the illegal settlement outpost of Havat Maon in Hebron governorate. They were later detained and brought to Kiryat Arba settlement police station by soldiers before being released later that day.
Israeli forces carried out 193 search-and-arrest operations during the reporting period and arrested 172 Palestinians, including 15 children, across the West Bank. The Ramallah governorate recorded the highest number of operations (48), followed by the Hebron (37) and Jerusalem governorates (35).
Source : Safa