In two weeks, Israel demolished 57 Palestinian-owned structures in occupied territories displacing 97 people - UN

Israeli demolition of Palestinian-owned structures east of Ramallah.

JERUSALEM, Saturday, August 14, 2021 (WAFA) – In the period between 27 July and 9 August, the Israeli occupation authorities demolished, seized or forced people to demolish 57 Palestinian-owned structures across the West Bank due to lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 97 people, including 67 children, and affecting the livelihoods of 240 other people, according to the Protection of Civilians report published biweekly by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Of these structures, 17 were seized displacing 27 people, including 19 children, in the Bedouin community of Ibziq in the Jordan Valley. An additional 28 people, including 21 children, were displaced when the Israeli authorities demolished six structures in al Mu’arrajat Centre in Ramallah.

In East Jerusalem, 12 structures were demolished, including five livelihood structures in Dahiyet al Bareed neighborhood.

In addition to the army demolition of Palestinian-owned structures, Israeli settlers vandalized at least 40 Palestinian-owned trees, and five vehicles across the West Bank during the reporting period, said OCHA.

Also during the reporting period, the Israeli army shot and killed four Palestinians, including an 11-year-old boy - two from Beita in the north of the West Bank and two, including the boy, from Beit Ummar in the south of the West Bank - and a fifth Palestinian from Jenin died on August 11 of wounds sustained a week earlier from Israeli army gunfire.

A total of 50 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank this year, all by live ammunition.

The Israeli occupation forces injured 764 Palestinians across the West Bank during demonstrations where Palestinians threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who fired live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas at them. Of the total injured, 586 people were injured during protests against settlements in Beita and 10 in Beit Dajan, both in the Nablus area.

A total of 107 were wounded during the protests at the funeral of the 11-year-old boy killed in Beit Ummar.

Beyond the 764 injured directly by Israeli forces, 95 were injured in Beita either while running away from Israeli forces or in circumstances that could not be verified, said OCHA.

Israeli forces carried out 92 search-and-arrest operations and arrested 115 Palestinians, including 11 children, across the West Bank with 30 of operations taking place in the Jerusalem governorate and 17 in the Hebron governorate.

M.K.