Israeli forces demolished at least 41 buildings, including a school, this week alone in the Palestinian West Bank displacing 36 people, a United Nations report said Friday.
More demolitions by Israeli Security Forces of schools in WestBank this week. Khirbet Tana elem. school before/after pic.twitter.com/94DZK6K3gH
— Robert Piper (@UN_Piper) March 4, 2016
The demolition took place in a Palestinian village called Khirbet Tana, which is home to approximately 250 people who rely on herding and agriculture for their livelihood, according to the U.N. report.
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"Due to the community’s location within an area declared as a 'firing zone' for training purposes, residents are denied building permits and have experienced repeated waves of demolitions, the last one taking place on February 9," the report said.
The U.N. warned that the demolition and displacement activity by Israel “are some of the highest levels recorded in a similar timeframe since 2009."
Scenes from this wk's demolitions by Israeli SF in communities of Khirbet Tana (Nablus) & Shweikeh & Shufa (Tulkarm) pic.twitter.com/7uT3Gfxh4q
— Robert Piper (@UN_Piper) March 4, 2016
More than 18 percent of the occupied West Bank is labeled as “firing zones” by Israel for training purposes. Also Nickolay Mladenov, U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said last month the number of such demolitions had tripled on average since the start of the year.
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The news comes amid increasing violence in Palestine and Israel since October through stabbing attacks and a major Israeli crackdown on Palestinian anti-occupation protests.
Latest estimates from the Palestinian Health Ministry say the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since Oct. 1 stands at 162, including 30 minors and seven women.
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Also since October, Israel has arrested 2,400 people including over 1,200 children, according to a report released by the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainee’ Affairs in late December.
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