LONDON: Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank demolished a Palestinian house on Tuesday in the town of Sair, east of Hebron, after they claimed it was built without a permit.
Military bulldozers demolished the two-story house, some 300 sq. meters in size, which had belonged to Fouad Jaradat in the Wadi Al-Sharikh area of the town, according to the Palestine News Agency.
Israeli authorities demolished 740 structures — including homes, agricultural facilities, and animal shelters — and displaced hundreds of Palestinians in the first half of 2026 across the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Authority’s affiliated Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission.
Following the occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has implemented a house demolition policy aimed at preventing the merging of Palestinian villages into larger cities and the establishment of settlements between them. The demolitions have included commercial facilities and industrial areas, on the pretext of charges that residents were building without permits.
Israel has damaged or destroyed about 92 percent of the buildings in the Gaza Strip, including hospitals, schools, homes, and commercial facilities, since October 2023, according to UN data.
Several international organizations have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, with about 74,000 people killed.
