UN: Israel has demolished over 500 Palestinian buildings so far this year 

September 29, 2020 at 9:32 am | Published in:  Middle East Monitor

September 29, 2020 at 9:32 am

The Israeli occupation authorities have demolished more than 500 Palestinian buildings in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip since the start of 2020, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revealed on Monday.

The UN agency said that 506 buildings were razed to the ground by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank on the pretext that they did not have building permits. According to the official statement, a total of 134 structures have so far been demolished in occupied East Jerusalem in 2020 alone.

UNOCHA said that the Israelis brought down 22 buildings over the past two weeks, displacing 50 Palestinians and affecting around 200 others. Eight demolitions out of the 12 in East Jerusalem were carried out by the owners themselves in order to avoid fines and fees imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities. The other 10 demolished structures were located in Area C, which accounts for around 61 per cent of the occupied West Bank.

Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the 1967 Six Day War. It justifies the demolition of Palestinian homes by saying that they lack building permits, despite the fact that Israel very rarely issues such permits to Palestinians. The Zionist state, meanwhile, issues thousands of permits to illegal settlers.