Israel demolished more Palestinian homes in first half of 2016 than in all of 2015

740 Palestinians, including 384 children, were made homeless during the first six months of 2016 after the Israeli military tore down their housing structures in the occupied West Bank, according to studies carried out by Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem.

The number of homes demolished over the last half year is greater than the number of homes demolished every year over the last decade – with the exception of 2013, in which the number was slightly higher, amounting to 175.

The figures do not count multiple demolitions of the same housing unit. 

Area C, which comprises 60 percent of the West Bank and is home to approximately 300,000 Palestinians, is under full Israeli military, security and administrative control.

Over the last decade, from the beginning of 2006 to 30 June 2016, Israel demolished at least 1,113 homes of Palestinians in the West Bank (not including East Jerusalem). As a result, at least 5,199 people, including at least 2,602 minors, were left homeless.

Most of the demolitions were carried out in small, underprivileged communities located far from Palestinian population centers, primarily in the Jordan Valley, in the South Hebron Hills, and in the east of Jerusalem.

Israel has full control of planning and building matters in these areas defined under the Oslo Accords, and refuses to recognise these communities.

Israeli authorities justify home demolitions by claiming such structures were built without permits. But Palestinians have repeatedly said their building permit requests are rejected or unanswered.

UN figures published last year showed that Israeli authorities approved just 1.5 percent of all requests for building permits submitted by Palestinians between 2010 and 2014.

According to B'Tselem, demolitions are taking place "under flimsy pretexts such as 'illegal construction' - a spurious claim given the absence of any real possibility for Palestinians to build legally in the area".

"This governmental policy, implemented systematically for years, constitutes the forced transfer of protected Palestinian residents within the occupied territory, in breach of international humanitarian law," the group's report said.

Israel occupied the West Bank after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Since then, Israel has built 125 Jewish-only housing settlements - considered illegal under international law - across Area C, according to B'Tselem figures. 

More than half a million Jewish Israelis live in such settlements, with further plans to expand them.