Israel demolishes Palestinian prisoner’s family home in Hebron: Report
Israeli forces have stormed Hebron’s Abu Katila neighbourhood and raided the family home of a Palestinian prisoner before demolishing it, according to the Wafa news agency.
During the operation, Israeli forces sealed off roads in the area and fired stun grenades, tear gas and bullets in the area, the report said.
Rights groups have long criticised Israel’s policy of demolishing homes of some Palestinian prisoners as a form of “collective punishment” that may amount to war crimes.
Israeli forces arrest 5 Palestinians in occupied West Bank: Report
Israeli forces have carried out another wave of arrests across the occupied West Bank, a near-daily occurrence since the Gaza war began.
One raid targeted the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, where Israeli special forces stormed several homes and arrested one man, according to the Wafa news agency. Two others were detained in the nearby town of Burin, the agency said.
Elsewhere, Israeli forces arrested two men near Hebron and another in Beitunia, near Ramallah, Wafa said.
Israeli settlers work to expand settlement outpost near Hebron
Armed Israeli settlers are bulldozing Palestinian land as part of an effort to expand a settler outpost near the village of Deir Razih, south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.
The report said that the outpost was first established on the village’s land in December.
The Israeli government has stepped up its expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, and Israeli settlers often play a role in pressuring Palestinians to leave their homes through acts of harassment and armed violence.
Palestinians receive body of slain activist
Israeli authorities have released the body of Palestinian rights defender Awdah Hathaleen, shot and killed by an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank.
Hathaleen’s female relatives had launched a hunger strike demanding the return of his body, which Israeli authorities said they would withhold until the family agreed to conditions regarding his mourning to “prevent public disorder”.
The Associated Press reported that while Israeli authorities dropped some of those demands, family members said that Israeli soldiers set up several checkpoints to block those seeking to attend the arrival of Hathaleen’s body.
The Israeli settler who killed Hathaleen was quickly released.
Israeli settlers attack Palestinian village north of Ramallah: Report
The Palestinian news service Wafa has reported that dozens of Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
The report, citing local sources, says that unarmed Palestinian residents tried to rebuff the attackers on the outskirts of the community while Israeli soldiers stormed the village to protect the settlers. Israeli soldiers fired sound grenades and tear gas during clashes with residents, although no injuries were reported.
Wafa says that al-Mughayyir has been the subject of repeated attacks by Israeli settlers, with several Palestinians killed in recent months.
