Mona Kandil
Press TV, Ramallah Almost every day, Palestinians’ homes and structures are being destroyed by the Israeli authorities under unjustified pretexts.

In east Jerusalem al-Quds, nine homes were destroyed in the last twenty four hours, either directly by the Israeli authorities or self-demolished by their owners to avoid hefty fines, following the issuance of demolition orders for lack of Israeli-issued building permits.  In the occupied West Bank that is supposed to be under Palestinian Authority control, the scene looks the same, dozens of homes and structures have been destroyed in areas, where Israel insists that any new residential construction must be approved first, otherwise it will be demolished. An area, dubbed area C, covers about 62 percent of the West Bank territory and remains under full Israeli civil and military control.

Israel has increasingly taken land there for the construction of Jewish settlements. Experts say in April, Israel pledged not to demolish homes as long as the health crisis is underway and isolation guidelines are in place, because of the spread of the deadly pandemic coronavirus.

However, these demolitions prove Israel’s pledge was a public relation move aimed solely at deflecting international criticism. Not only Palestinians but also the International community, all consider Israel's demolition of Palestinian structures in the occupied territories as illegal.

Palestinians say these demolitions facilitate Tel Aviv's seizure of the lands and allow Israel to grip on the West Bank and Jerusalem al-Quds.