Israeli military carries out raids, arrests across the occupied West Bank
The Israeli military has arrested two men after storming their homes in the town of Jaba, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, according to local media reports.
Israeli troops destroyed a vehicle belonging to one of the detained men during the raids, while clashes with Palestinian groups in the town have also been reported.
Israeli forces have also detained a “number of young men” at the al-Mukhtar roundabout, south of Hebron, according to local media. It is not clear if they have been taken into custody.
Military raids have been reported in other locations in the occupied West Bank, including:
- The Dhnaba and Ezbet al-Tayah neighbourhoods, east of the city of Tulkarem.
- The town of al-Fandouqmiya in Jenin.
A memorial was also held in the town of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin, on Friday night for 10 Palestinians from various towns in Jenin governorate killed recently by Israeli forces.
▪️ تغطية صحفية: " قوات الاحتـلال تحتجز عدداً من الشبان على دوار المختار جنوب مدينة الخليل" pic.twitter.com/4vvGcjWLIU
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) July 19, 2024
Translation: The occupation forces detain a number of young men at Al-Mukhtar Roundabout, south of Hebron.
Israel more than triples raids in occupied West Bank
There is an ongoing Israeli raid in Nablus where at least two Palestinians have been detained and we have seen an escalation in those military raids in the past nine months.
The number of daily raids, whether at night or in the morning, has more than tripled in these past months. We’ve also seen an escalation in attacks by illegal Israeli settlers.
Yesterday, as that ruling at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was being read against the Israeli occupation, settlers attacked Palestinians in the Nablus area in Huwara; they burned businesses and fields.
Also in the South Hebron Hills, there was an attack by a group of Israeli settlers against a family. A woman, who was severely beaten, is now being treated in hospital.
In all those attacks of Israeli settlers, the Israeli soldiers were close by defending the settlers and protecting them and barring the Palestinians from defending themselves, which is something again referenced by the judges at the ICJ in The Hague.
Palestinian family forced to demolish home in occupied East Jerusalem
Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad shows a family from occupied East Jerusalem demolishing their own home in the town of Jabal Mukaber in occupied East Jerusalem, following the orders of the Israeli forces.
Ahmad al-Qunbar told local media that he was born in Jerusalem and that he and his family, including his grandparents, had lived there since 1967. The demolition orders came after he refused to sell the house built decades ago to the Israeli settler associations.
The footage showed the children of the family watching with sadness the self-demolition of their home.
Palestinians given ‘draconian choice’ of demolishing own homes
Jeff Halper, the director of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, says the Israeli practice of getting Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to demolish their own homes happens mainly in Jerusalem.
“Palestinians, when they get a demolition order, which is approved by the court, they can go to the court but they lose 100 percent of the time,” Halper told Al Jazeera.
“[But] their houses will be demolished and so they have a draconian choice: either the Israelis will demolish their house which means bringing out police, bringing out bulldozers and so on which costs a lot of money, or the court will make a deal of so called self-demolition with the family and they’ll say look, if we don’t have this expenditure your house is going to be demolished, you’re going to get a fine,” he said.
Halper added that the fine can be about $20,000, but the courts argue that if the family demolishes their house, the fine will be reduced by half.
“There are thousands of cases like these. It’s routine oppression,” he added.
