Israeli army demolish house, farm in West Bank over permit claims

BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK, PALESTINE - MAY 26, 2025: Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian-owned house and a 1,000-square-meter sheep farm, on Monday, May 26, in Bethlehem city of the occupied West Bank on the grounds of lacking building permits. The director of the Bethlehem office of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Hassan Breijieh, told Anadolu that Israeli bulldozers demolished a two-story house and an adjacent farm in eastern Bethlehem, describing the move as part of ongoing efforts to pressure Palestinians and drive them from their land. According to the Commission, Israeli authorities demolished 152 Palestinian structures in the West Bank in April alone, including 96 residential homes, some of which were inhabited at the time of demolition. The Israeli army has intensified home demolitions and field interrogations of Palestinians in the Bruqin and Kafr al-Dik towns of Salfit since a shooting attack that killed an illegal Israeli settler last week. Since the start of the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, nearly 970 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers across the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The International Court of Justice declared last July that Israel’s longstanding occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. (Footage by Hisham K. K. Abu Shaqra /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)