Middle East Monitor / July 14, 2021
The European Union (EU) announced on Tuesday that Israel had displaced 595 Palestinians, including 320 children, since the beginning of 2021, representing an increase of 50 per cent compared to last year.
The EU Mission in Jerusalem issued the remarks on its official Twitter account, explaining that in the last demolition on 7 July in Humsa, in the northern Jordan Valley, as many as 42 people, including 24 children, had been displaced and remain in desperate need of humanitarian aid.
According to the statement, in the past two days, three Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, including Silwan, had been forced to demolish their homes.
The EU called on Israel to halt all demolitions in the occupied Palestinian territories, adding that such activities are cruel and illegal under international law and must cease.
A report issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 8 July revealed that Israel had demolished at least 421 Palestinian-owned structures since the beginning of the year.
According to the report, as many as 130 destroyed structures had been funded by donors.
Israel justifies the demolitions on account of lacking building permits. However, according to the Palestinians, international organizations and the United Nations, Israel rarely approves requests for building permits in East Jerusalem and Area C, constituting 60 per cent of the West Bank.
