RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL

Illegal Israeli settlers on Friday demolished several Palestinian homes and livestock shelters in Khirbet Humsa, in the northern Jordan Valley of the occupied West Bank, according to a local activist.

The attackers used bulldozers to destroy the homes and animal pens belonging to Yasser Mahmoud Abu Kabash and his son, said Mutaaz Bisharat, the official in charge of settlement affairs in the Tubas and northern valley region, in a statement.

He noted that Israeli forces had previously demolished the same structures about two years ago, before they were rebuilt, without specifying how many units were torn down this time.

Bisharat condemned the escalating settler attacks, saying they are part of an effort “to empty the Jordan Valley of its Palestinian residents and seize as much land as possible.”

Separately, several Palestinians were injured Friday when Israeli forces attacked a peaceful protest in Tulkarm, northern West Bank, held to denounce the establishment of a new illegal settler outpost east of the city, according to witnesses.

Soldiers fired live bullets and tear gas to disperse the protesters gathered on land between the villages of Beit Lid and Kafr Qaddum, and later chased activists and supporters through nearby agricultural fields after they performed Friday prayers near the site of the outpost, the witnesses said.

At least two people were wounded by rubber-coated bullets, while dozens suffered tear gas inhalation and were treated on-site, medical sources told Anadolu.

Palestinian activists documented illegal settlers uprooting olive trees in Susiya, in the southern Hebron Hills area of Masafer Yatta. A video showed a group of illegal settlers breaking the trees in the area.

Authorities said that more than 1,068 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, 10,000 wounded, and more than 20,000 arrested, including 1,600 children, since the Israeli onslaught in the Gaza Strip began two years ago.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.