Israeli forces today (December 28) demolished a Palestinian house in the Sendas locality, south of the West Bank city of Hebron, according to eyewitnesses.

According to reports, heavy machinery tore down the 150-square-metre property belonging to a man named Mohammad al-Atrash.

The demolished house was located adjacent to the settler-only bypass Road No. 60.

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: APAwire CLIENTS ONLY SHOTLIST: APAwire - APAwire CLIENTS ONLY, Hebron, 28 December 2021. Israeli soldiers stand guard as Israeli machineries demolish an under-construction Palestinian house, in the West Bank city of Hebron.

0.1 SOUNDBITE (in Arabic) Zohra al-Atrash
0.2 SOUNDBITE (in Arabic) Marwa al-Atrash

STORYLINE:

Israeli forces today razed a Palestinian house in Sendas locality, south of the West Bank city of Hebron, according to eyewitness.

They told WAFA correspondent that a sizable military unit escorted a bulldozer into the area, where the heavy machinery demolished a 150-square-meter two-story house belonging to Mohammad al-Atrash.

The demolished house is located adjacent to the settler-only bypass Road No. 60.

Israel demolishes Palestinian houses and structures almost on a daily basis as a means to achieve “demographic control” of the territories.

Israel denies planning permits for Palestinians to build on their own land or to extend existing houses to accommodate natural growth, particularly in Jerusalem and Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and falls under full Israeli military rule, forcing residents to build without obtaining rarely-granted permits to provide shelters for their families.

In contrast, Israel argues that building within existing colonial settlements is necessary to accommodate the “natural growth” of settlers. Therefore, it much more easily gives the over 700,000 settlers there building permits and provides them with roads, electricity, water and sewage systems that remain inaccessible to many neighboring Palestinians.

Footage by/APAwire