The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas said on Saturday that targeting the Palestinian presence through home demolitions requires a unified national position based on an agreed-upon strategy to face off the Israeli occupation. 

In a press statement, Hamas Spokesperson Hazem Qasem urged the Palestinian Authority (PA) to implement the outcomes of the Palestinian secretaries-general’s meeting and activate popular resistance against the Israeli occupation.

“The surge in home demolitions coincides with a spike in colonial projects and land grabs, which means a gradual implementation of the colonial annexation plan,” Qasem pointed out. 

Qasem explained that this move came as some Arab regimes sign normalisation deals with the Israeli occupation, warning that normalisation agreements “encourage the Israeli occupation to escalate its aggression on our people.”

Citing a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Israeli violations against the Palestinians and their properties, Qasem said that the Israeli occupation is targeting the Palestinian presence in the West Bank and Jerusalem by demolishing and confiscating Palestinian houses.

According to OCHA, the Israeli occupation army has knocked down and confiscated more than 52 Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank over the past two weeks. 

“The surge in demolition and confiscation of Palestinian properties confirms that the Israeli occupation is appallingly applying an actual ethnic cleansing policy before the eyes of the world,” Qasem noted.

Qasem stressed that the Israeli occupation practices discrimination against the Palestinian people in a stark violation of all laws and humanitarian norms.

Since the start of this year, the Israeli occupation has demolished and seized more than 689 Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, according to UN data.