Israel demolishes homes of five Palestinians from the same family in the Negev

Israeli forces demolished five Palestinian homes in the southern Negev, or Naqab, region on Monday morning, according to local residents.

Police accompanied bulldozers and military vehicles as they tore down homes belonging to the Al-Ghoul family on the outskirts of the Bedouin town of Ararat al-Naqab, leaving residents homeless.

صور | جانب من عمليات هدم 5 منازل في عرعرة النقب بالداخل المحتل وسط تواجد مكثف لقوات الاحتلال. pic.twitter.com/6TGKenabzp

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) June 12, 2023

Activist Muaqil Al-Huashla, who was present at the demolition site in Ararat al-Naqab, told The New Arab's affiliate site Arab48 that Israeli forces stormed the houses at 8 am local time (6 am GMT) and proceeded to tear them down after forcibly evicting their owners.

"These houses were built nearly 40 years ago, and the Al-Ghoul family has lived in them for decades, but the Israeli authorities displace people and do not want them to remain on the land," he said, adding that the demolitions had actually begun in February.

"The family tried to rebuild the houses, but the Israeli authorities insist on displacing people and uprooting them from their land," added Al-Huashla

Walid al-Huashla, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, condemned the demolitions, saying it was a crime by a government "which has lost all sense of humanity".

"It is brutal, to say the least. This government deals with Arabs as enemies, and it is not rare for it to demolish the homes of civilians safe in their homes, whether children, the elderly or the sick," he said.

Israel has routinely destroyed the homes of Palestinian Bedouins. In 2017, the government approved an enforcement plan for Palestinian Bedouin constructions that were deemed illegal to make space for new buildings.

Activists and human rights groups have described the order as ethnic cleansing.