Wissam Zarina, one of the affected, explained to the official Wafa news agency that this is the second time Israel has demolished the structure under construction, in the town of Beit Jala, near the city of Bethlehem.
According to the United Nations Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israel has demolished some 300 Palestinian buildings since the beginning of the year in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem.
The threat of destruction of homes and livelihoods, along with other practices, contributes to a coercive environment that pressures Palestinians to leave their areas of residence, the OCHA said in a report released earlier this week.
According to the organization, Israel has destroyed 8,471 structures, forcing the displacement of 12,586 people, since the a recounting of the demolitions began back in 2009.
Earlier this year, the adviser to the Presidential Office for Jerusalem Affairs, Ahmed Al Ruwaidi, denounced that some 22,000 Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem are under threat of demolition as part of the Israeli strategy to change the demographics of the zone.
pgh/llp/jf/rob
