Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that dozens of settlers stormed this evening, Monday, the town of Hawara, south of Nablus, under the protection of the occupation army, indicating that Palestinian youths suffocated from tear gas canisters while trying to confront the settlers.

Eyewitnesses stated that the settlers fired live bullets in the air and threw stones at Palestinian cars on the main road of the town, while the occupation forces fired a barrage of sound and gas bombs at the residents of the town who gathered to repel the intrusion, which led to cases of tear gas suffocation.

Local Palestinian platforms also broadcast a video clip showing the injury of a Palestinian citizen, who was wounded by settlers throwing stones at his car while it was passing through one of the streets of the town.

This field development comes only hours after a new escalation by the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, who demanded the demolition of Palestinian homes in the city of Jerusalem during the holy month of Ramadan, in conjunction with the demolition of 3 Palestinian homes by the occupation authorities in the Wadi Al-Houz neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem, and the arrest of 13 Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem. separate areas of the West Bank.

Israel Radio quoted Ben Gvir as saying, "It is no secret that there is an understanding among our security forces, that during the month of Ramadan one should not breathe and the law should not be applied." This month".

The Israeli radio described Ben Gvir's instructions to the occupation police as exciting, as it has been practiced for years to avoid carrying out any demolitions during the month of Ramadan - which comes after less than 20 days - in East Jerusalem in order to avoid escalating tension in the region, given the spiritual status of the holy month.

The radio quoted informed sources as saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently held talks with the heads of the security services, including the chief of staff and the head of the Shin Bet, which led to a consensus in the security establishment to stop the law enforcement operations launched by Minister Ben Gvir in the east of the occupied city.

In response to Itamar Ben Gvir's statements, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry described the minister's call as "racist colonialism that incites further escalation of the situation in the conflict arena."

The ministry added that the statements of the Minister of National Security, whom it described as a fascist, "would ignite more fires in the arena of conflict, especially as they fall within the framework of the large-scale Judaization and Israeliization operations that Jerusalem is subjected to, covering all aspects of the life of Jerusalemite citizens."

Demolition of homes

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Jerusalem, Najwan Samri, said that the occupation authorities demolished 3 homes for two brothers and their cousin from the Totah family in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem, under the pretext of building without a permit.

The owner of one of the houses said that large forces of the occupation police arrived on Monday morning and cordoned off the area before bulldozers belonging to the occupation municipality started demolishing it. He added that 18 people have lived in these houses for 25 years, including an elderly woman and children.

In the West Bank, the commander of the Israeli occupation army in the West Bank approved the demolition of the house of the prisoner Islam Farroukh in the city of Ramallah (center), and a statement by the army said that the approval of the decision came after the Supreme Court rejected the family’s appeal request to stop the demolition decision.

The occupation authorities accuse the captive Farroukh of planning and carrying out two separate bombings in occupied Jerusalem at the end of last November, which killed two Israelis and wounded others.

The occupation forces arrested the prisoner Farroukh from the city of Ramallah in December 2022.

According to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, from the beginning of 2023 until the end of last February, the Israeli authorities demolished 67 homes in East Jerusalem under the pretext of unauthorized construction. During the past year, the occupation authorities demolished 143 homes, and in 2021, which was preceded by 181 homes, According to the same report.

Palestinian circles in Jerusalem estimate that there are about 20,000 homes threatened with demolition in East Jerusalem due to unauthorized construction.


arrests

On the other hand, the Israeli army said that its forces arrested 14 wanted Palestinians from across the West Bank yesterday evening and confiscated weapons, and added that the Israeli forces took measurements of the house of the perpetrator of the Jordan Valley operation, which was carried out on February 27, in preparation for its subsequent demolition.

The occupation authorities had announced the imposition of a closure on the West Bank and Gaza on the occasion of the Jewish "Purim" holiday, starting from Monday afternoon until dawn next Thursday.

The decision to close the West Bank comes in light of the tension in the West Bank over the Israeli incursions by the occupation army and settlers into Palestinian cities and villages.