On July 23, 2016, the military issued a punitive demolition order for a house in Dura in Hebron District, the home of a Palestinian man, the suspect on a shooting attack against Israelis in the South Hebron Hills on July 1, 2016. This is the
25th punitive demolition order the military has issued since the start of 2016.
On August 2, 2016,
HaMoked petitioned the High Court of Justice (HCJ) against the order. HaMoked stressed that the demolition would leave the man’s wife and two daughters – an 11 month old baby and a two and a half years old toddler – without a roof over their heads for no wrong they had done. HaMoked reiterated its position whereby punitive home demolition was utterly prohibited practice, which constituted collective punishment and a severe violation of basic human rights.
HaMoked further noted that it had not yet received credible evidence as to the extent of the man’s involvement in the incident, and that the efforts to obtain investigation materials that could shed light on the issue had failed. While the military claimed
in rejecting the objection that it had evidence other than the man’s statement during his interrogation concerning his involvement in the attack, no such evidence was provided to HaMoked.
Immediately after the petition was submitted, the HCJ issued an interim order prohibiting the demolition of the house pending another decision.
