LONDON: Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian house under construction in Kafr Ad-Dik, a town west of Salfit in the northern occupied West Bank, on Wednesday.

Israeli troops, accompanied by military bulldozers, stormed the town and proceeded to the Sha’ab area, where they began demolishing a house that was under construction belonging to Sami Samir Naji, according to the Wafa news agency.

The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission reported that Israeli authorities conducted a total of 538 demolitions last year, which destroyed 1,400 structures. This included 304 inhabited homes, 74 uninhabited homes, 270 economic facilities, and 490 agricultural facilities. The demolitions primarily took place in the governorates of Hebron, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Tubas, and Nablus, Wafa added. 

Excluding East Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, there are about 3 million Palestinians and 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank.