Demolition of homes and evacuation of 25 families in Jerusalem and the West Bank

The Israeli occupation authorities have escalated home demolitions and population evacuations in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, targeting neighborhoods in Silwan and Bethlehem, and forcing dozens of families to leave their homes around the Tulkarm camp.

On Wednesday, the Israeli occupation authorities escalated home demolitions and population evacuations in occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank, targeting residential neighborhoods in Silwan and Bethlehem, alongside forcing dozens of families to leave their homes around the Tulkarm camp and converting some into military barracks. In the Silwan neighborhood south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, occupation police closed streets and entrances around the Al-Bustan area, imposed a security cordon on the region, as bulldozers stormed from the southern side and began demolishing the home of Jerusalemite Abu Muhammad Abu Subaih. Local sources reported that occupation bulldozers destroyed roads and uprooted trees in the neighborhood to facilitate access to the targeted home. The ongoing demolitions could raise the number of homes demolished in Al-Bustan over the past three years to 63, according to the Wadi Hilweh Information Center. In the town of Tuqu' southeast of Bethlehem, occupation forces began demolishing an inhabited home belonging to citizen Ashraf Muhammad Muslim al-Zeer in the Khirbet al-Deir area, in the Subaih neighborhood, in the center of the town. The mayor of Tuqu', Tayseer Abu Mufarreh, reported that occupation forces stormed the area with bulldozers, completely closed it, prevented movement, and then began demolishing the single-story home, which covers an area of about 170 square meters. He added that occupation forces chased citizens and fired toxic gas and sound bombs, causing injuries.