Israeli forces increased its attacks in West Bank, refuses to withdraw from Lebanese towns despite agreement to do so
By Abdul Adil
(AA, Al Jazeera, Wafa, NNA, The Muslim News):
WEST BANK
The Israeli army demolished seven Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday amid military escalation in the occupied territory.
Army forces, escorted by military bulldozers, raided the town of Kafr al-Dik, west of Salfit city, and razed a house for alleged lack of a building permit, witnesses said.
Six more homes were brought down in the Masafer Yatta area near Hebron in the southern West Bank for lacking construction permits, local activist Fuad al-Amour.
The demolitions came amid Israeli raids in the northern West Bank that have killed more than 55 Palestinians and displaced thousands since Jan. 21.
According to official figures, the Israeli army demolished 126 Palestinian structures in the West Bank last month, including 74 inhabited homes and 29 agricultural facilities.
The Israeli army also demolished 16 Palestinian homes in the Tulkarem refugee camp on Tuesday, in the largest demolition operation in the occupied West Bank since last month.
Witnesses said military bulldozers moved into the camp and started to demolish the structures.
Faisal Salama, who heads the Tulkarem Popular Committee, said Palestinian authorities had been notified by the Israeli army of its plans to raze the 16 houses amid its ongoing raid in the camp.
According to an Anadolu reporter, the demolitions were the largest since the army started its offensive in the northern West Bank last month.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) condemned on Tuesday Israeli police raids on its schools in the occupied East Jerusalem.
“This is a violation of the basic right to education as well as of United Nations privileges and immunities,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement.
Witnesses said that police forces stormed the UNRWA-run Jerusalem Elementary School in Silwan town and interrogated its management members.
The raids also targeted another school in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood and a vocational training center in the Qalandia refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem, they added.
“Children and young people in East Jerusalem denied of their right to education in UNRWA schools,” Lazzarini said.
He added that tear gas and sound bombs were fired during the raids as at least 350 students and 30 staff were present at the facilities.
“Children’s access to education must be preserved and United Nations facilities must be protected and respected at all times wherever they are,” Lazzarini said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has denounced Israeli raids on these schools.
“The secretary-general condemns the breach of inviability of United Nations premises in occupied East Jerusalem, including the UNRWA training centre and the attempt to forcibly enter three UNRWA schools and seek their closure,” said Guterres’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric at a news conference.
Israeli forces Tuesday detained 30 Palestinians in multiple raids across the occupied West Bank, according to security and local sources.
They said that Israeli occupying forces rounded up six Palestinians from Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate.
Two of the six detainees were identified as villagers of al-Lubban al-Gharbi village, another as a resident of Silwad town, another as a villager of Rammun enrolled in Birzeit University, and two others as villagers of Bitillu.
In the northern West Bank, Israeli occupation forces detained four Palestinians, including two minors, from the city of Jenin.
In the Qalqiliya governorate, the occupying forces detained three Palestinians from Azzun town and ransacked their houses, turning them upside down.
In the Nablus governorate, Israeli soldiers showed up at a house on As-Sikka Street in the city, muscled inside, conducted a thorough search, stole jewelry, and rounded up an occupant after beating up his son and mother.
The sources confirmed a raid in Askar refugee camp, east of Nablus, resulting in the detention of another.
In the Tulkarm governorate, a convoy of army vehicles stormed Anabta town, where the soldiers rounded up a resident.
In the Jerusalem governorate, an Israeli army force showed up at a house in al-Issawiya town, in the predawn hours, and detained two minors.
In the Jordan Valley, Israeli forces detained three residents of Ras Ein al-Auja community, north of Jericho, simultaneously while they protected colonists who attacked the community, as confirmed by Hasan Mleihat, the General Supervisor of the Al-Baydar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights.
In the southern West Bank, Israeli forces rounded up four Palestinians, including two teens, aged 16 and 17, from the city of Bethlehem and three others from the Dheisheh refugee camp, south of the city.
Meanwhile, Badi‘ Dweik, an activist, confirmed that Israeli soldiers this evening showed up at his house in the Jabal al-Rahma neighborhood of Hebron, and detained his son.
The sources confirmed a similar raid in Idhna town, west of Hebron, resulting in the detention of another Palestinian.
Israeli occupation forces Tuesday took over a residential building in At-Tayba village, west of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, according to local sources.
They said that the occupying forces seized a multi-story building belonging to the Abu Huluq family in the town, forced the occupants out at gunpoint, and turned the entire building into a military outpost.
The Israeli army raid prompted the administration of the local secondary boys’ school, adjacent to the aforementioned building, to issue a statement announcing that should the occupation forces continue to be deployed in the village, students are instructed to follow the remote learning modality.
A number of Palestinians Tuesday evening suffocated in an Israeli army raid in al-Khader town, south of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to WAFA correspondent.
He said that the occupying forces barged their way into the town, simultaneously while firing barrages of heavy concussion and tear gas grenades, causing a number of residents to suffocate from excessive tear gas inhalation.
Israeli occupation forces Tuesday evening beat up a youth in Nabi Saleh village, northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, according to local sources.
They said that the occupying forces stormed the village, simultaneously while firing barrages of tear gas canisters.
The heavily armed soldiers brutally assaulted a 30-year-old man and briefly held him.
Eyewitnesses said that the soldiers broke into the building of the old school, which had been vacant for a long period, as sounds of the destruction of the doors could be heard.
Israeli occupation forces today demolished a Palestinian-owned house in the village of Umm al-Khair in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.
Osama Makhamreh, an activist against settlements in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, told WAFA that the occupation forces raided the village of Umm al-Khair and demolished a tin house and bulldozed the lands and stone walls surrounding it.
GAZA
Palestinian medics and rescue teams recovered six more bodies from the rubble in the Gaza Strip, pushing the overall death toll from Israel’s genocidal war since October 2023 to 48,291, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
A ministry statement said that the toll also included one Palestinian killed by Israeli army fire in the last 24 hours.
According to the ministry, 13 injured people were also admitted to hospitals, taking the number of the injured to 111,722 in the Israeli onslaught.
“Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” the ministry said.
LEBANON
Lebanon called on Tuesday for full Israeli troop withdrawal from its territory in the south under a ceasefire agreement, which set Tuesday as the deadline for Israel withdrawal.
President Joseph Aoun held talks with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to discuss Israeli violations of the ceasefire deal, a statement from the presidency said.
The talks came shortly after the Israeli army withdrew from southern Lebanese towns, but remained in five border outposts in violation of the ceasefire deal. Under a ceasefire deal with Beirut, Israel was supposed to complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by Jan. 26, but the deadline was extended to Tuesday, Feb. 18 after Israel refused to comply.
Lebanese officials called for “a complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories, in compliance with international charters and laws, and UN resolutions, including Resolution 1701,” the statement said.
They also underlined that the Lebanese army is “fully ready and prepared to assume all its duties on the recognized international borders in a way that preserves national sovereignty, protects the people of southern Lebanon, and ensures their security and stability.”
Resolution 1701 mandates a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, and establishes a weapons-free zone between the Blue Line, a de facto border, and the Litani River, with exceptions for the Lebanese army and UNIFIL peacekeeping forces.
They urged the UN Security Council “to enforce Resolution 1701 and compel Israel’s immediate withdrawal,” calling any Israeli military presence in Lebanon “an occupation, with legal consequences under international law.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called the five outposts a “buffer zone” to protect Israeli settlements against Hezbollah attacks.
Lebanon’s civil defence agency has recovered 23 bodies from several border towns after Israeli troops withdrew from some southern towns under a ceasefire deadline.
“Specialised teams today … managed to remove 14 bodies from Meiss el-Jabal, three from Markaba, and three from Kfar Kila, in addition to three from Odaisseh,” said a statement published by the state-run National News Agency.
Lebanese leaders said the Israeli military’s continued presence in five locations is an “occupation” and Beirut is in touch with France and the United States to press the army to completely withdraw from southern Lebanon.
[Photo: Palestinians struggle to survive their daily lives in makeshift tents among the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli attacks after the ceasefire agreement came into force in Beit Lahia, Gaza on February 18, 2025. Photojournalist: Mahmoud İssa/AA]
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