Occupation demolishes a house and a facility in Jerusalem and settlers set up 10 caravans near Bethlehem

SadaNews - The Israeli occupation forces carried out on Wednesday two demolition operations targeting a commercial facility and a house in the occupied city of Jerusalem under the pretext of lack of permits, at a time when demolition operations in the city and its surroundings have escalated recently.

Human rights sources reported that the Israeli forces demolished the house of citizen Suleiman Mahmoud Malihat in the Arab al-Ka’abneh area located between the towns of Bir Nabala and Beit Hanina northwest of Jerusalem.

They also demolished a commercial facility in the Jabal Mukaber neighborhood southeast of the city, including an iron and building materials factory in the Al-Jadira neighborhood, according to the Jerusalem Governorate.

These measures come within the ongoing context of demolition operations carried out by the occupation authorities in Jerusalem and its suburbs and in various areas of the West Bank, under pretexts related to building without permits or the location of facilities in areas under Israeli control.

During the last May, the Jerusalem Governorate recorded 84 demolition and leveling operations, including 21 cases of self-demolition where citizens were forced to remove their own homes, amid a noticeable escalation of demolition and settlement policies in the region.

Warnings of a new settlement outpost

On Wednesday, settlers erected 10 mobile homes (caravans) in the Wadi Hindi area west of the village of Joura al-Sham'ah, south of Bethlehem, near the apartheid wall in the occupied West Bank.

Ali Salim, head of the Joura al-Sham'ah village council, stated that the caravans were set up on agricultural land estimated at about 30 dunams planted with olive and grape trees, owned by residents of the village, noting that the area had been subjected to leveling about three months ago.

He clarified that this step may pave the way for the establishment of a new settlement outpost, warning of the possibility of seizing a wider area estimated at about 200 dunams and depriving its owners of access to it.

Salim pointed out that the southern Bethlehem area has recently witnessed an escalation in settlement activity, referring to a previous incident in the neighboring Marah Ma'ala area, where caravans were erected and infrastructure built in preparation for the expansion of settlement.

This comes amid the ongoing expansion of settlements in the West Bank, where the number of settlers is estimated at about 750,000 distributed across hundreds of settlements and outposts, including large gatherings east of Jerusalem.