Off the wire
• Iceland's wage index records 0.4 pct increase in Jan.  • Major news items in leading German newspapers  • Global uncertainty drags down China's trade growth: Commerce minister  • 1st Ld-Writethru: Xi urges improved policies for China's aging population  • 451 Belgians identified as foreign fighters in Syria: interior minister  • Freedom of navigation in South China Sea not U.S. vessels' "muscle show": China  • China welcomes Lagarde's second term as IMF chief  • Sustainable growth comes from better educated workforce, not more labor: Bank  • China concerned by corruption in poverty relief  • China welcomes Russia-U.S. agreement on Syria ceasefire plan  
You are here: 　 Home

Israeli army demolishes homes of Palestinian attackers near Hebron

Xinhua, February 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israel has demolished two houses of Palestinians who carried out attacks against Israelis near Hebron in the West Bank, the Israeli army said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) engineers and border policemen overnight leveled two homes belonging to Raed Masalmeh, 36, located in the Palestinian village of Dura near Hebron and Mohammed Abdel Basset al-Kharoub, 24, in Dir Smat, a Palestinian village also near Hebron, according to a statement from the IDF spokesperson.

Masalmeh is responsible for a stabbing attack in a Tel Aviv office building on November 19 which resulted in the deaths of two Israelis. He had been captured and indicted on charges of murder.

At the same day, al-Kharoub was suspected of shooting and killing three people on a West Bank highway, near the Jewish settlement of Alon Shvut.

The measure of home demolition has been reinstated by Israeli authorities amid a five-month-long wave of ongoing violence, including stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks, in an attempt to deter others from carrying out attacks. It was in use a decade ago, during the time of second Palestinian intifada (armed uprising).

However, the effectiveness of the measure had been questioned by Israeli security officials, and human rights groups deplore it as an unfair collective punishment against the families of the attackers.

Twenty seven Israelis and more than 170 Palestinians have been killed since October, amid the ongoing wave of violence.

Whereas the Israelis were killed in attacks, the Palestinians were killed either in clashes during protests with Israeli security forces or were gunned down after carrying out or attempting to carry out attacks against Israelis.

Israeli leaders blame the Palestinian Authority for incitement to violence as the cause of the unrest, whereas the Palestinians charge it is the frustration over 49-year of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories, where they wish to establish a Palestinian state in accordance with the two-state solution. Enditem