Israel destroying Palestinian structures at alarming rate: UN
The United Nations says Israel is razing Palestinian homes and other buildings made with international aid at an "alarming" rate.
According to UN figures cited by the French news agency AFP, Israel has carried out more demolitions so far this year than in all of 2015.
Israel has demolished 121 structures funded partly or fully by international donors in the occupied West Bank from the beginning of 2016 until March 2, surpassing the 108 from all of 2015.
Homes and at least one school as well as temporary structures such as sheds were among the destroyed buildings.
Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian Territories Robert Piper described the demolitions as “alarming.”
“We have already surpassed the total number of humanitarian aid items destroyed or confiscated in all of 2015, in just the first 10 weeks of 2016,” Piper said.
Israel usually destroys the structures under the pretext that they are built illegally, but aid groups say obtaining necessary permits is nearly impossible.
Piper attributed the rise in the figure to several factors, including a “renewed push to advance settlement expansion plans in these areas.”
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 settlement colonies built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
The United Nations and most countries regard Israeli settlements as illegal.
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