Israeli army blows up Palestinian home in West Bank as military raids continue

By Qais Abu Samra and Betul Yilmaz

HEBRON, Palestine (AA) - The Israeli army on Wednesday blew up the house of a Palestinian accused of carrying out a shooting attack last year amid military escalation in the occupied West Bank.

According to witnesses, Israeli forces raided the city of Qalqilya in the northern West Bank and detonated the three-story house after evacuating nearby buildings.

The house belonged to Ali Khalil, whom Israel accused of carrying out a shooting attack last June in which an Israeli man was killed in Petah Tikva in central Israel.

Khalil and three other people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their vehicle in the West Bank city of Tulkarem last August.

For years, Israel has pursued a policy of home demolitions as a punitive measure against families of Palestinians accused of involvement in attacks against Israeli targets.

Meanwhile, Israeli army forces and bulldozers raided the towns of Qabatia and Arraba in southern Jenin and destroyed several facilities in the two areas, witnesses said.

Several Palestinians were held during the raids for field interrogation while a number of houses were turned into military outposts, they added.

The raids came as the Israeli army has continued a deadly military offensive in the northern West Bank since Jan. 21, killing at least 69 Palestinians and displacing thousands.

Tension has been running high across the occupied West Bank, where at least 935 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the onslaught on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s longstanding occupation of Palestinian territories illegal, calling for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.