West Bank.. The Israeli army demolishes two houses west of Bethlehem.

Israeli bulldozers demolished two Palestinian homes on Monday in the village of Walaja, west of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, under the pretext of "building without a permit."

The head of the Walaja village council, Khader Al-Araj, stated that "the occupation forces stormed the town and began demolishing two homes there."

Al-Araj indicated that the demolition was carried out amid Israeli military reinforcements that invaded the village and "were stationed in the Ein Jweiza area, which the occupation claims belongs to the municipality of Jerusalem."

He reported that Israel demolished a home that housed 9 people, without allowing them to retrieve their belongings and possessions.

In the same village, Al-Araj clarified that the Israeli forces demolished an apartment located on the fourth floor of a residential building, which he did not name.

He confirmed that the demolition was carried out "under the pretext of lack of permit, without any prior warning."

Al-Araj pointed out that the village is facing an Israeli assault aimed at tightening the noose on the residents and pushing them to live outside it.

Walaja is located on hills overlooking the occupied city of Jerusalem, but the Israeli separation wall has isolated it from the city and cut off dozens of dunams within the wall.

Tel Aviv divides the village into areas that are administratively under the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem, and other areas classified as "C" according to the Oslo Accords, where demolition operations are carried out on both sides under the pretext of building without a permit.

The Oslo Accords classified the West Bank territories into three areas: "A" under full Palestinian control, "B" under Israeli security control and Palestinian civil and administrative control, and "C" under Israeli civil, administrative, and security control.

Area "C" constitutes about 60 percent of the West Bank's area.

According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Israel "carried out 1,014 demolition operations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, targeting 3,679 facilities, including 1,288 inhabited homes, 244 uninhabited homes, and 962 agricultural facilities and others, since the start of the genocide war in Gaza."

The West Bank has witnessed, coinciding with the genocide war in Gaza since October 8, 2023, an Israeli escalation from the army and settlers, resulting in the deaths of 1,065 Palestinians and injuries to about 10,000 others, in addition to the arrest of more than 20,000 people, including 1,600 children.