In overnight raid, Israeli forces demolish 18-member Palestinian family house in Jerusalem
Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- Israeli occupation forces demolished house of the Palestinian family of Salhiya after raiding their house in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem in the early morning hours of Wednesday, violently arresting and assaulting family members.
Local sources and family members said that around 3am local time, a large number of Israeli police units, including counter-terrorism and riot police forces accompanied with bulldozers, raided the Salhiya house.
Yasmin Salhiya, a resident of the house and daughter of the owner Mahmoud Salhiya, said that the large Israeli force had cut off electricity from the house as they raided it, and started firing tear gas to block everyone’s vision.
The forces then attacked the family and arrested five of its members, including Mahmoud. Among the assaulted were a nine-year-old daughter of Mahmoud and her aunt.
Also, over 22 supporters who were camping inside the property in solidarity with the family were also assaulted and arrested by the forces.
The forces separated everyone that was there and started beating the youths before arresting them in the jeeps and taking them away.
The owner of the house was asleep when they arrested him and they didn’t let him put a jacket or shoes on, despite the heavy rains and cold temperatures.
The forces then started emptying the house and then started firing rubber-coated metal bullets at journalists and supporters who were outside the house.
They also prevented the ambulances from accessing the site and reaching the wounded family members.
A video taken last night during Israel's demolition of the Salhia family home in Sheikh Jarrah shows Israeli Police denying an ambulance access to wounded Palestinian family members there.#SaveSheikhJarrah pic.twitter.com/eJfmCcv2xo
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 19, 2022
The Israeli bulldozers then started demolishing the house, finishing the demolition three hours later and leaving the house in ruins while the family’s possessions were seen scattered on the ground.
Activists: "This scene of destruction overnight in #SheikhJarrah followed the same ethnic cleansing script of the #apartheid regime against Palestinian Bedouins in Naqab."
#SaveSheikhJarrah pic.twitter.com/3nMS635EFs
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 19, 2022
Palestinians collect the belongings of Salhiya family from the rubble of their home which was demolished by the Israeli occupation forces predawn today. Huge Israeli forces besieged the neighborhood, detained the family, assaulted them and demolished the home.#SaveSheikhJarrah pic.twitter.com/e8vKjy29qY
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 19, 2022
"This is what their home looks like now: The Salhiye family of 15, kicked out in this freezing weather from their home in Sheikh Jarrah." – Journalist Yuval Abraham at the site of the demolished Salhiya home in Sheikh Jarrah.#savesheikhjarrah pic.twitter.com/S9Teb2jm6u
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 19, 2022
On Monday morning, the Israeli forces also attempted to forcibly displaced the Salhiya family from its house. They raided the area and demolished five businesses Mahmoud owned.
However, Mahmoud refused to obey the order of the Israeli occupation municipality and threatened to set himself and the house on fire, in opposition to the forced displacement.
Watch | Members of the Salhiya family in the occupied #Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah refuse to obey an Israeli dispossession order and threaten to set their home on fire in the event of their expulsion. pic.twitter.com/hjYe1hCvYh
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 17, 2022
Photos | The Salhiya family in the occupied #Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah set fire at the entrance to their home and threaten to blow up the home using gasoline and gas cylinders in the event of their forceful expulsion by the occupation authorities. pic.twitter.com/o0OZ0e4D6D
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 17, 2022
Hours later, the Israeli forces left the area after demolishing five businesses owned by Mahmoud.
The Salhiya family was displaced from its house in the west Jerusalem neighborhood of Ein Karem in 1948 during the ethnic cleansing of the village.
They bought a new house in the 1950s in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, over a decade before ‘Israel’ occupied and annexed the area.
Eighteen people lived on the property in two adjacent houses, including Mahmoud, his wife and children, his mother and his sister’s family. The whole family is made up of 9 children.
The family was offered by the occupation municipality an eight-month extension to convince them to sign a paper stating that they would become a tenant of the house, but they refused.
The family also said that the battle to keep its house had cost them around NIS 600,000 (about $ 190,000) in fines, the cost of filing cases and appointing lawyers.
More than 500 Palestinians living in 28 houses in the neighborhood are also threatened with forced displacement by settler organizations supported by the Israeli occupation government.
