Israel raids West Bank village to prepare home of alleged Palestinian gunman for demolition

Israeli security forces stormed the village of Rumanah in the occupied West Bank in the early hours of Sunday morning to prepare the family home of an alleged Palestinian gunman for demolition.

On Saturday, 27-year-old Kamel Mahmoud Abu Bakr was shot dead by Israeli police after reportedly killing a security guard during an attack in Tel Aviv.

The head of the Rumana village council, Hassan Subihat, told The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “the occupation forces stormed the house of [Abu Bakr], conducted a field investigation with the family, and took measurements of their house in preparation for its demolition”.

During the Israeli raid on the town just a few miles northwest of Jenin, confrontations erupted between the Israeli army and Palestinian protesters, during which Israeli soldiers fired live rounds and teargas cannisters at the civilians.

According to Subihat, this led to Palestinians being injured by gas inhalation and gunshot fragments.

Two Palestinians were also arrested during the raid. They were identified as released Palestinian prisoners.

The Israeli army has long used house demolitions as a punitive measure against Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks on Israelis.

The practice has been widely condemned by human rights groups as collective punishment, leaving thousands of innocent people homeless, and is considered a war crime.

Two days of increased Israeli violence 

The raid on Rumanah comes amid a host of Israeli military incursions and settler violence in areas across the West Bank on Saturday and Sunday.

Ten Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces during raids into Jerusalem and Hebron on Sunday for unknown reasons.

In the town of Al-Bireh and the village of Shufa on Saturday night, Israeli settlers, protected by the Israeli army, pelted Palestinian vehicles with stones.

On the same night, settlers attacked Palestinian livestock herders in Al-Hamma in the northern Jordan Valley, preventing them from accessing pastoral lands, according to local human rights activists.

Settlers also attacked Palestinian farms near the village of Tuwani in Hebron, destroying their crops. When Palestinians attempted to protect their farms, the Israeli army, which accompanied the settlers, assaulted and arrested a youth, while firing teargas at other residents.

In another incident on Saturday evening in Turmus Ayya, Israeli forces allegedly opened fire on the vehicle of Palestinian youths, causing damage to the vehicle for unknown reasons. The young men managed to escape uninjured and were not arrested.

More than 200 Palestinians - including 37 children - have been killed in Israel and the Palestinian territories since the start of the year, with a major increase in Israeli raids into Palestinian areas, accompanied by settler attacks