RAMALLAH, September 20, 2018 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Thursday demolished a Palestinian home under construction in Rantis village, northwest of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, said local sources.

Large Israeli troops, escorting a bulldozer, stormed Rantis village, cordoned off the house and proceeded  to demolish it purportedly for being built without a permit since it is located in Area C of the occupied West Bank, which is under Israeli military control.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces delivered a demolition notice to a Palestinian home in al-Walaja village, northwest of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Ibrahim Awad, a local activist, said that Israeli forces along with staff from the so-called Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem stormed Ein Jweiza area, west of the village, where they handed Majdi al-Shweiki a notice to demolish his 120-square-meter home purportedly for unlicensed building.

The municipal staff also took photos for another home and surrounding walls in Walaja belonging to Imad Faraj before they left the area.

Almost 88 percent of Rantis and 97 percent of al-Walaja, mainly agricultural land, were classified as Area C, which falls under the full Israeli control and where Israel refuses to permit virtually any Palestinian construction, forcing many Palestinians to embark on construction without a permit to shelter their families.

Since its occupation in 1967, along with the rest of the West Bank, Israel has seized most of the lands belonging to both villages for the construction of settlements, bypass roads and the apartheid wall, further separating the agricultural land from the rest of the village, making them difficult to reach and harvest.

Many Israelis urge the outright annexation of Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the West Bank.

K.F./M.K.