UN: Israel razed 54 Palestinian-owned structures, displaced 66 people in July

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a total of 66 Palestinians, including 34 children, were displaced as a result of the demolitions that took place between July 5 and 24, and the livelihoods of more than 795 others were affected.

The UN body said in its report that 16 of the affected structures were provided by donors, of which 15 were demolished in a single incident in al-Muntar area of al-Quds, while the sole remaining structure was destroyed in Beit Jala town.

The report highlighted that 80 percent of the affected structures (43) were in Area C of the West Bank, which constitutes about 61 percent of the territory and is under full Israeli military control.

The other 11 structures were demolished in East al-Quds, including nine residential structures, resulting in the displacement of five households, comprising 24 people, including 12 children.

Eight out of the 11 structures demolished in that area were destroyed by their owners to avoid payment of fines to Israeli authorities.

Additionally, Israeli authorities demolished two agricultural-related structures in Birin district of West Bank under the false pretext of trespassing a land owned by the regime.

The OCHA report said Israeli forces, in addition to demolitions, evictions and forcible displacement, shot and killed 10 Palestinians, among them children, between July 4 and 27 during separate raids in Nablus, Qalqilya, and Ramallah.

Furthermore, the UN body said, 352 Palestinians, including at least 56 children, were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank during the mentioned period. At least 26 of the minors were struck by live ammunition.

Israel routinely demolishes Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds, claiming that the structures have been built without permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. They also sometimes order Palestinian owners to demolish their own houses or pay the costs of the demolition.

Israel has already occupied thousands of dunums of Palestinian agricultural land to construct and expand new illegal settler units in various areas in the West Bank.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and al-Quds.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The United Nations Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state with East al-Quds as its capital.