Israeli authorities overnight demolished the home of a Palestinian killed after fatally stabbing a Jewish settler in the West Bank city of Hebron, the Israeli army and Palestinian sources said on Thursday.
Israel regularly demolishes Palestinian attackers’ homes in a bid to deter violence, but human rights activists say it amounts to collective punishment, forcing relatives to suffer for the acts of others.
Palestinians threw stones at soldiers who arrived to demolish the apartment of Ihab Maswada while the soldiers fired stun grenades, an AFP journalist reported.
No one was in the apartment at the time. Palestinian media reported that Israeli forces forced family members to leave.
Maswada stabbed Genadi Kaufman, 41, on December 7 before being shot dead by Israeli forces. Kaufman later died of his wounds.
The incident occurred near the flashpoint holy site known to Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque.
A wave of violence since October has left 200 Palestinians and 28 Israelis dead. Two Americans, an Eritrean, and a Sudanese have also been killed.
Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out a knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.
Others were shot dead during protests and clashes while some were killed in Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under political pressure over the attacks, has sought to expedite home demolitions as part of efforts to stop the violence.
Critics argue that the policy is not an effective deterrent and feeds into a cycle of violence.
