PALESTINE: Israel’s army has destroyed the homes of 80 Palestinian Bedouins in the occupied West Bank in the latest operations.
As per details, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh accused the Israeli army of having completely destroyed the village of Homsa al-Baqia, leaving around 80 homeless people.
Jordan Valley, according to a photographer of a news agency at the scene, found dozens of people left homeless. The Jordan Valley situated in the West Bank’s Area C that is fully controlled by Israel’s military, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
While you were eagerly following the US elections, Israel has demolished an entire community’s residential compound, leaving 74 people, 41 of them minors, homeless. pic.twitter.com/7hA5AHdFn0
— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) November 4, 2020
Late Tuesday, Israeli bulldozers razed the village — including tents, sheds, portable toilets and solar panels — near Tubas in the
The branch of Israel’s army responsible for civilian affairs in the West Bank, COGAT, said it had destroyed structures “built illegally in a firing zone (military training area) in the Jordan Valley”.
Under Israeli rules, Palestinians cannot build structures in the area without permits, which are typically refused, and demolitions are common. According to the Israeli anti-occupation non-government organization B’Tselem, the late-night operation in Homsa al-Baqia was unusual given that so many homes were targeted at the same time.
Just back from the Jordan Valley. This is some of the devastation left yesterday by Israeli bulldozers that ripped through Khirbet Humsah, a remote Palestinian herder community. Rain has just started to fall and residents have worked through night to salvage belongings. pic.twitter.com/c8iz7gyIC3
— Sarit Michaeli (@saritm0) November 4, 2020
“The wiping off of a whole community at once is extremely rare, and it seems like Israel was making use of the fact that everyone’s attention is currently set elsewhere to move forward with this inhumane act,” B’Tselem said in a statement sent to AFP, referring to the US presidential election.
In a separate statement B’Tselem said that “while the world deals with the coronavirus crisis, Israel has devoted time and effort to harassing Palestinians instead of helping … residents living under its control”.
B’Tselem, which tracks demolition data, said that 798 Palestinians in the West Bank have been left homeless by Israeli demolitions so far this year. That is already the highest annual tally since 2016, the year the organization began collecting such data.
