Ramallah: In a new record, Israeli occupation authorities demolished 782 Palestinian properties in 2016, amounting to nearly two structures day.
The statistic is alarming as the 2016 figure is more than the numbers of 2014 and 2015 combined.
The regime destroyed 274 residential and 372 non-residential buildings in the occupied West Bank.
In occupied East Jerusalem, it razed 88 residential and 48 non-residential buildings.
As a result, 1,134 Palestinians became homeless — more than half of whom were children.
Israeli authorities cite the lack of building permits as the official reason for the demolitions.
Israeli rights group, B’Tselem, released the figures on Tuesday, calling the demolitions “systematic”.
It accuses Israel of interfering in the livelihoods of Palestinians in order to pressure them to move — paving the way for the demolition of their emptied homes.
According to the report, the Israeli regime targeted buildings in three main regions of Area C of the West Bank, including the Hebron Hills region where they demolished 34 homes in 2016.
Occupation forces also destroyed 49 Palestinian homes in areas around the Israeli colony block of Maale Adumim, and a total of 123 homes in the Jordan Valley region.
“The Israeli policies in occupied East Jerusalem and Area C of the West Bank are systematic and are designed to minimise the number of Palestinians in as much land as possible,” said B’Tselem’s report.
Last July, the rights group reported the unprecedented number of home demolitions against Palestinians, but nothing was done to curb the actions.
“Israeli occupation forces are waging a systematic war against civilians and unarmed Palestinians in the West Bank, in front of the eyes of the entire world,” Saeb Erekat, PLO Undersecretary, said at the time.
He blamed the international community for allowing Israel to continue its “barbaric and inhumane policies”.
“Nothing is being done to confront Israel on their actions,” he said.
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