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Israel demolished the family home of a Palestinian involved in an attack that killed four settlers in the West Bank

The Israeli army today demolished the family home of a Palestinian linked to the Hamas militia who participated in an attack last June that killed four Israeli settlers near the Eli settlement in the northern West Bank, an area occupied by Israel. Since 1967. “On June 20, Basil Shehadeh, a Hamas terrorist, helped carry out a terrorist attack on a gas station” near the Israeli settlement of Eli, “which led to the death of four Israeli civilians” and the injury of several others, a military spokesman said of the response. Israeli.

During the night, Israeli army forces and border police demolished Shehadeh's house in the town of Urif, located in the northern West Bank. The occupation forces blew up the house during the early hours of dawn today, after “large army forces stormed the southern area of ​​the village and surrounded the house of Shehadeh,” who is currently imprisoned, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Shehadeh carried out the attack with another Palestinian, both members of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades, in which the four Israelis were killed, leading to an intensification of raids by the Israeli army in the West Bank and paving the way for a large-scale military offensive. By land and air, for three days in the city of Jenin at the beginning of July, killing 12 Palestinians associated with local militias and an Israeli soldier.

According to the army, “Today's demolition operation followed the destruction of homes belonging to other terrorists involved in the same attack in the previous days.”

The West Bank has witnessed a sharp escalation in tensions for more than a year and the most severe escalation in violence with Israel since the Second Intifada (2000-2005), which worsened after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on October 7. . Since then, about 368 Palestinians have been killed in West Bank territories in violent incidents with Israel, and according to Palestinian sources, the army has arrested more than 6,000 Palestinians, while raids and raids on West Bank towns are almost daily and often lead to clashes and deaths. Of the Palestinian population.

Since the beginning of the year, at least 49 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed in violence in the region, with 2023 ending with more than 520 Palestinians and 40 Israelis killed, the highest numbers since 2002. Israel routinely demolishes Palestinian family homes. Palestinians are accused of committing deadly attacks for years in the occupied territories, a policy that human rights groups consider a form of collective punishment. For its part, the Israeli authorities justify this as a deterrent measure to prevent further attacks.

Israeli forces took control of the West Bank in 1967, and have maintained a long military occupation and colonization of these lands ever since. (Effy)