Gaza, July 22: Palestinians have protested against the stop work orders given by the Israeli District Coordinating Office (DCO) on nine structures around the village of At-Tuwani.
The orders were delivered to seven new houses, one cave, and one cistern in the area on Monday.
The Israeli military sometimes delivers a stop work order to a structure prior to a demolition order, and after the order is delivered, the Israeli military demolishes the structure.
When the DCO orders were delivered, Palestinian children and adults gathered in the area and protested the stop work orders. The children surrounded each house and shouted loudly in an attempt to make it difficult for the DCO to deliver the orders as well as making it difficult for the DCO and soldiers to use their radio and phones.
While delivering the stop work orders, a member of the DCO struck a small child and an Israeli soldier shoved a Palestinian civilian to the ground. They also arrested a protesting Palestinian man who was supposedly charged with “threatening soldiers” and remains in the Kiryat Arba police station.
One Palestinian called on the DCO and soldiers to deliver demolition orders to the illegal buildings in the Israeli outpost of Havat Ma’on, which continues to expand on occupied territory.
One such house, which was delivered the stop work orders, had already been destroyed during the night of July 16. The Palestinian family suspects the house had been demolished by Israeli settlers from the Israeli settlement of Ma’on or the illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on, and the family began rebuilding the home the next day.
Despite harassment by Zionist settlers aimed at discouraging the growth of the village of At-Tuwani, Palestinians remain committed to asserting their right to develop and build their own homes on their private plots of land.
—–Agencies