Israeli forces blow up Palestinian prisoner’s house

    An AFP correspondent reported that Israeli forces used explosives to destroy Mohammed Cabha’s house in Tura Village, southwest of the city of Jenin, on Wednesday night. The Israeli military confirmed that it had demolished the house of the 40-year-old Palestinian man after entering the village last night. The demolition of the house on Wednesday led to clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian youths protesting the move. The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the demolition of Cabha’s house in separate statements. Israel routinely demolishes the houses of Palestinians whom it accuses of carrying out attacks against Israeli settlers. Israeli authorities also usually demolish Palestinian houses in the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds and elsewhere in the West Bank, claiming that the structures have been built without permits. They also sometimes order the Palestinian owners to tear down their own homes or pay the demolition costs to the municipality if they do not. More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds. Emboldened by the anti-Palestine policies of former US president Donald Trump, Israel has stepped up its settlement expansion activities in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which pronounces settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds “a flagrant violation under international law.” All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on occupied land. Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.