Some 13,000 Palestinian structures in the West Bank are currently under Israeli demolition orders, leaving residents and homes “in a state of chronic uncertainty and threat”, the UN said Monday.
A report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also highlighted the difficulty Palestinians face in obtaining building permits needed to prevent such demolition orders, AFP reported.
More than 11,000 Israeli demolition orders relating to an estimated 13,000 Palestinian structures are currently awaiting implementation in a huge swathe of the occupied West Bank, said the report entitled “Under Threat”.
“While only a minority of the orders issued is executed, these orders do not expire and leave affected households in a state of chronic uncertainty and threat,” it said.
“Where the orders are implemented, they have resulted in displacement and disruption of livelihoods, the entrenchment of poverty and increased aid dependency.”
Between 1988 and 2014, Israel issued more than 14,000 demolition orders against Palestinian-owned structures, of which upwards of 11,000 are currently outstanding, it said.
“In many cases, the same order targets multiple structures owned by the same household (e.g. their residence, an animal shelter, a storage room and a latrine),” said the report.
Last month 31 international organizations, including Oxfam and Amnesty International, criticized what they called a “surge” in West Bank demolitions.
They have previously said such demolitions are carried out because the structures were built without the required construction permits.
OCHA said there were currently about 300,000 Palestinians living in Area C, and cited Israeli data as saying that about 356,000 Israeli settlers live there also.
