RAMALLAH, Palestine / ANKARA

Israeli army forces demolished three more Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, witnesses said.

Two houses inhabited by ten Palestinians were razed in Burqin town, west of Salfit city, Wassim Sabra, one of the owners, told Anadolu.

A third house was demolished in Wadi Fukin village, west of Bethlehem city, for an alleged lack of building permits, witnesses said.

Israel widely uses the pretext of a lack of construction permits to demolish Palestinian homes, especially in Area C in the occupied West Bank, which is under Israel’s administrative and security control, and constitutes around 60% of the West Bank.

Under the 1995 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was divided into three portions – Area A, B, and C.

Meanwhile, illegal Israeli settlers set fire to a wedding hall in the town of Bidya, west of Salfit city, witnesses said.

According to the official news agency Wafa, settlers spray-painted racist anti-Arab graffiti on walls in the town, including "death to Arabs."

Home demolitions and settler violence against Palestinians have escalated in the occupied West Bank since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.

At least 945 Palestinians have since been killed and over 7,000 others injured in the occupied territory, according to Palestinian figures.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.