Al Qubaybah, Palestinian Territories: Israeli forces on Saturday blew up the house of a Palestinian accused of carrying out a shooting attack in Jerusalem that killed six people, a Palestinian official said.
The two-story house of Muthanna Amro was blown up at dawn in the town of Al-Qubaybah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, town mayor Nafiz Hamouda told AFP.
The military, when contacted, said it was looking into the report.
AFP footage showed explosives ripping through the house, leaving two gaping holes and piles of debris inside.
Hamouda said the military had notified residents 10 days earlier of its intention to demolish the property.
“Last night they came, and at dawn today the house was blown up,” he said.
The blast also caused significant damage to four or five neighboring houses, Hamouda said.
“This is the nature of the occupation. It does not stop at harming one individual, but seeks to inflict damage on as many citizens as possible,” he added.
Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported that a large military force stormed the town, surrounded the house and evacuated nearby residents before detonating the building.
Israel, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967, regularly destroys the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks against Israelis.
The government argues that these demolitions serve as a deterrent, but critics denounce them as collective punishment that leaves families homeless.
Amro and another suspected assailant, Mohammed Taha, were shot dead by a security officer and armed civilian after they allegedly carried out a shooting at a bus stop in Jerusalem on September 8.
The attack, which left six people dead, was later claimed by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023 following Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Since then, Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 983 Palestinians in the West Bank, including many militants, according to health ministry figures.
Over the same period, at least 36 Israelis, including members of security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official figures.
Israel blows up alleged Jerusalem attacker’s house: Palestinian official
https://arab.news/8dd85
Israel blows up alleged Jerusalem attacker’s house: Palestinian official
- AFP footage showed explosives ripping through the house, leaving two gaping holes and piles of debris inside.
- The blast also caused significant damage to four or five neighboring houses
US lawmakers press Israel to probe strike on reporters in Lebanon
- “The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said
- Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured
WASHINGTON: Several Democratic lawmakers called Thursday for the Israeli and US governments to fully investigate a deadly 2023 attack by the Israeli military on journalists in southern Lebanon.
The October 13, 2023 airstrike killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded six other reporters, including two from AFP — video journalist Dylan Collins and photographer Christina Assi, who lost her leg.
“We expect the Israeli government to conduct an investigation that meets the international standards and to hold accountable those people who did this,” Senator Peter Welch told a news conference, with Collins by his side.
The lawmaker from Collins’s home state of Vermont said he had been pushing for answers for two years, first from the administration of Democratic president Joe Biden and now from the Republican White House of Donald Trump.
The Israeli government has “stonewalled at every single turn,” Welch added.
“With the Israeli government, we have been extremely patient, and we have done everything we reasonably can to obtain answers and accountability,” he said.
“The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said, referring to the Israeli military, adding that it has told his office its investigation into the incident is closed.
Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured.
“But I’d also like them to put pressure on their greatest ally in the Middle East, the Israeli government, to bring the perpetrators to account,” he said, echoing the lawmakers who called the attack a “war crime.”
“We’re not letting it go,” Vermont congresswoman Becca Balint said. “It doesn’t matter how long they stonewall us.”
AFP conducted an independent investigation which concluded that two Israeli 120mm tank shells were fired from the Jordeikh area in Israel.
The findings were corroborated by other international probes, including investigations conducted by Reuters, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.
Unlike Welch’s assertion Thursday that the Israeli probe was over, the IDF told AFP in October that “findings regarding the event have not yet been concluded.”
