Middle East Monitor / January 21, 2022
Israeli occupation authorities, earlier this week, have notified the families of two Palestinian brothers accused of carrying out an alleged shooting operation last month, that they will demolish their house in Jenin, based in the occupied West Bank.
According to Wafa news agency, the planned demolition will render four families, comprising over 30 people, homeless.
Ghaith and Omar Jaradat, brothers aged 20 and 17 years old, are accused of conducting an alleged shooting attack that took place on 16 December, near the illegal settlement of Homesh, north of Nablus, resulting in an Israeli settler being killed.
The occupation forces arrested the brothers, along with their uncle, who is accused of being an accomplice, after raiding their home in Silat al-Harithiya town in Jenin with dogs and over 100 soldiers.
Local Palestinian youths, who were protesting the raid, were attacked by the Israeli soldiers, who fired live rounds, tear gas and stun grenades at them, injuring a young man, according to local residents.
The Israeli soldiers had also taken measurements of the family home to prepare them for demolition, an act regularly carried out by Israeli forces and described as “collective punishment” by human rights groups.
Israeli forces use home demolitions as a policy against the families of Palestinians it accuses of attacking Israelis. The policy has been condemned by UN experts and human rights groups.
