The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday prevented the municipal council of Araqah village in western Jenin from building a road and confiscated a bulldozer.
Chief of the council Othman Yehya said that the IOF barred them from building a road to connect Araqah village with the town of Ya’bad and Khirbet al-Turm hamlet.
He added that the IOF also detained construction workers for some time and then seized a bulldozer from the site.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Israel’s demolition policy has continued to hit all aspect of life in Palestinian areas even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a recent report OCHA said that the period from March to August 2020 saw the demolition or confiscation of 389 Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank on average 65 per month the highest average destruction rate in four years.
Early during the COVID-19 pandemic the Israeli occupation authority claimed “it would restrain their longstanding policy of demolishing inhabited Palestinian homes. Sadly demolitions during the period March-August 2020 left 442 Palestinians homeless further exposing many to risks associated with the pandemic. In August alone 205 people were displaced more than in any other single month since January 2017.”
“Beyond homes the targeted properties included water hygiene or sanitation assets and structures used for agriculture among others undermining the access of many to livelihoods and services. Moreover 50 of those structures had been given to Palestinians as humanitarian aid and their destruction hit the most vulnerable of all and undermined emergency operations” OCHA added.
