B’Tselem, an Israeli rights organization, said the Israeli forces and bulldozers rolled into the village of Um Al-Kheir and leveled five prefabricated shelters early on Tuesday.
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A Palestinian is evacuated by Israeli forces as he tries to prevent authorities from destroying his house in the village of Umm al-Kheir in the occupied West Bank, August 9, 2016.
The US has said such demolitions raise questions about Israel’s commitment to a two-state political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
At least 16 children were among the 27 Palestinians who were living in those houses and are now homeless, according to B’Tselem. They all lost their homes in previous demolitions in the same village, its statement said.
The structures had been built with European Union aid after houses in the village, on the southern tip of the West Bank, were demolished at least eight times, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said in a statement.
The worldwide community sees the settlements as a major obstacle to the creation of a Palestinian state and therefore to peace between the two sides.
Israeli Justice Minister Ayalet Shaked visited the South Hebron Hills on Monday, saying there was “a tremendous amount of illegal Palestinian building” in the area, much of it constructed with the help of “foreign finance”.
This morning, Israeli authorities destroyed five homes in Umm Al Khair, leaving four Palestinian families homeless. “Regavim’s work is beginning to bear fruit with a large increase in demolitions of European structures”.
Lars Faaborg-Andersen, the ambassador of the European Union (EU), seen at the opening of Yedioth Ahronoth’s conference “Fighting the Boycott” at the Jerusalem Convention Center, on March 28, 2016.
“Israel is relentlessly destroying Palestinians’ homes and livelihoods in order to make way for more illegal settlements”, he said.
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The funding has been a constant source of tension between the EU and Israel over the past seven years, although the union says that the housing constitutes humanitarian assistance and as such does not require a permit from the army.
