HEBRON, October 30, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities on Sunday ordered a halt on the construction of a house in the town of Yatta, south of Hebron in the West Bank, according to local sources.

Rateb Jabour, who monitors settlement activities in Hebron, said an Israeli army force accompanied by staff from the Israeli Civil Administration broke into the village and ordered Mohammad Abu-Qabita, a local Palestinian, to stop the construction of his house.

The area is located in Area C of the occupied West Bank, under complete Israeli military and civil control, where Israel imposes strict restrictions on the issuance of construction permits to Palestinians.

Due to the lack of adequate planning and discriminatory allocation of public land, it is nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits in most of Area C, according to OCHA.

Official data obtained by the organization indicated that over 11,000 demolition orders - affecting an estimated 13,000 Palestinian-owned structures, including homes -are currently ‘outstanding’ in Area C of the West Bank.

“These orders heighten the vulnerability of thousands of poor Palestinian households, some of whom are at imminent risk of forcible displacement,” OCHA said in a factsheet released in September 2015.

“Even basic residential and livelihood structures, such as a tent or a fence, require an [Israeli] building permit.”

M.N