Israeli army carries out punitive demolition of Palestinian prisoner’s family home

Israeli occupation forces carried out a new punitive house demolition overnight, destroying the family apartment of Palestinian prisoner Alaa Kabha in Bartaa village near Jenin.

Kabha is accused by Israeli occupation authorities of having carried out a car-ramming attack at an occupation army post near a West Bank settlement on 17 March, killing two Israeli soldiers.

According to reports, some twenty Israeli army vehicles invaded Bartaa, with the demolition carried out by soldiers from the army’s Menashe Regional Brigade, officers from the Border Police and officials of the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration.

The Kabha family – who received the official demolition order two weeks ago – live on the third floor of a four-storey building. Soldiers demolished the interior of the apartment, but since destroying interior walls caused structural damage, the entire building may need to be torn down.

Read: Palestinians call to save their homes from Israeli demolition orders

Israeli authorities’ policy of punitive demolitions has been widely condemned as a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

Israel, for its part, claims that the demolitions are intended as a ‘deterrent’, rather than a ‘punishment’, a distinction rendered irrelevant by the prohibition of collective punishment.