Israel demolishes Palestinian family's homes twice in one week

Israel demolishes Palestinian family's homes twice in one week
Jersualemites came together and built the family temporary a temporary shelter made of tin sheets after their first home was destroyed by Israeli forces.
2 min read
23 August, 2017
Israeli settlements in Jerusalem's Silwan - Palestine [Getty]

Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian family's home in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan on Tuesday for the second time in a week.

The temporary shelter - which was built with the help of neighbours - was destroyed days after the Abu Sneina family's first home was demolished by Israeli bulldozers.

Witnesses told Palestine based Maan News Agency Israeli forces - accompanied by council officials - stormed the al-Bustan area of Silwan and destroyed a temporary shelter.

Members of the family said that their former 60-square-metre home was demolished on 15 August.

Jersualemites came together and built the family a temporary shelter from tin sheets.

Israeli forces refused planning permission for the modest home and destroyed it on Tuesday.

The family were still working on the interior of the shelter when Israeli troops stormed their home on Tuesday and demolished it without any notice.

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Days before the demolition of the Abu Sneina family home, four Palestinian children were severely injured in Silwan after an Israeli settler drove a vehicle into them.

The children - Amir and Hamza Abu Sbeih, Anas Haymouni and Youssef Roman, all aged around six-years-old - were transferred to the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.

The United Nations says more than 160 Palestinians have been displaced in East Jerusalem this year as a result of home demolitions.

Since Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem, Gaza - which was later abandoned by Israel - and the West Bank in 1967, over 48,000 Palestinian homes and agricultural structures have been demolished in the occupied territories, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

At least 160,000 Palestinians have been internally displaced due to Israeli demolitions and other policies in the past 50 years, according to the group.

Most homes levelled by Israel have been in the West Bank Area C zone.

Over 60 percent of the West Bank is under full Israeli administrative and security control where most Israeli settlements are located.

In East Jerusalem, demolitions have taken place in strategic areas to strengthen Israeli claims over contested territories, which are illegally occupied by Tel Aviv.

Many see it as an attempt to make a "two state solution" impossible with Israel seeking to annex the occupied Palestinian territories.