Israeli home demolitions leave 51 homeless

Israeli authorities on Thursday demolished six homes near the occupied al-Quds ('Jerusalem'), leaving 51 Palestinians homeless and bringing the year's total displaced in the West Bank and the occupied al-Quds up to 752.

A Ma'an reporter said that Israeli civil administration workers raided the Sheikh Anbar neighborhood in Zuayyim village without prior notice and demojlished a number of structures belonging to the al-Saidi, al-Jahalin, and Abu al-Hawa families that authorities claimed were built without a permit.

The structures included five homes and three cattle sheds.

Khader al-Saidi, one of the newly-displaced residents, said that authorities demolished the homes with bulldozers without allowing the families to remove their possession.

This led to an exchange of insults and hand scuffles between residents and Israeli forces, he added.

Al-Saidi said that his family had lived in the area since the 1950s, and that they had bought the three dunam piece of land the structures were built on 10 years ago.

Israel has destroyed more than 377 Palestinian properties in the West Bank and the occupied al-Quds in 2014, displacing 752 people, according to UNOCHA.