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
Women riding motorbikes is latest sign of Iran’s societal change
- “For women, riding a motorcycle is not just a way to commute but a symbol of choice, independence and equal presence in society”
TEHRAN: When Merat Behnam first gathered enough courage to ride her yellow scooter through the gridlocked streets of Iran ‘s capital to the coffee shop she runs, traffic wasn’t her main worry.
She instead girded herself for disapproving looks, verbal abuse and even being stopped by the police for being a women riding a motorbike in Tehran, something long frowned upon by hard-liners and conservative clerics in Iran.
But Behnam, 38, found herself broadly accepted on the road — and part of a wider reconsideration by women about societal expectations in Iran.
“It was a big deal for me,” Behnam said after riding up to her café on a recent day. “I didn’t really know how to go about it. In the beginning I was quite stressed, but gradually the way people treated me and their reactions encouraged me a lot.”
Two things in the past prevented women from driving motorbikes or scooters. First, police regulations in Iran’s Farsi language specifically refer to only “mardan” or “men” being able to obtain motorcycle licenses.
“This issue is not a violation but a crime, and my colleagues will deal with these individuals, since none of these women currently have a driver’s license and we cannot act against the law,” Gen. Abulfazl Mousavipoor, Tehran’s traffic police chief, said in a report carried by the semiofficial ISNA news agency in September.
Then there’s the cultural aspect. While women can now hold jobs, political office and a car license, since its 1979 Islamic Revolution the country has imposed a strictly conservative, Shiite Islam understanding of conduct by women.
There’s been speculation the administration of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who campaigned on openness to the West before the war, may try to change the regulations to allow women to be licensed.
“It’s time to move past the invisible walls of cultural judgment and bureaucratic rules,” the Shargh newspaper said in September.
“For women, riding a motorcycle is not just a way to commute but a symbol of choice, independence and equal presence in society.”
Benham, says riding her motorbike also gave her the first positive interaction she’s had with the police.
“For the first time, a police officer — well, actually, a traffic officer — made me feel encouraged and safer. I could feel that there was some kind of support,” she said. “Even the times they gave me warnings, they were technical ones — like where to park, not to do certain things or to always wear a helmet.”
