Israel demolishes 40 structures since virus outbreak

Israel has demolished or seized 40 Palestinian structures in Area C of the occupied West Bank since March 5, according to a report published on Friday by the UN.

“Since the declaration of the COVID-19 State of Emergency in Palestine on 5 March, the Israeli authorities demolished, forced people to self-demolish or seized 40 structures," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) report.

It added that the demolition led to the displacement of 26 Palestinians and otherwise affected over 260 others.

On Thursday, Israel informed the UN that it would temporarily halt demolitions of inhabited Palestinian homes and medical structures in Area C of the West Bank due to the coronavirus crisis,

The announcement was confirmed by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary-General Saeb Erekat.

"I was informed by top U.N. officials that, the Israeli occupation authorities informed them that they will stop demolitions of Palestinian homes," he said.

Roughly 650,000 Israeli Jews currently live on more than 100 settlements built since 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Under the 1995 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was divided into three portions -- Area A, B and C.

Israel prevents Palestinians from conducting construction projects in parts of the West Bank designated as Area C under the agreement, which falls under administrative and security control of Israel.

Area C is currently home to 300,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are Bedouins and herding communities who predominantly live in tents, caravans and caves.

International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.