In 2022, the Israeli occupation demolished or seized 953 Palestinian-owned buildings in Jerusalem and the West Bank, the most since 2016, as per a report released on Tuesday by the European Union Representative Office for the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Around 1,000 Palestinians were forced to move and 28,446 were impacted by the demolitions. The report states that almost half of those displaced were children.

The UN OCHA documented 849 episodes of aggression by Israeli settlers, the highest figure since 2006 when the agency started to track these kinds of occurrences. Of these, 621 caused property damage, 124 resulted in injuries, and 104 caused both damage and injuries.

The report stated that demolitions have had a detrimental impact on Palestinian societies and have caused the continuing displacement of Palestinians. It went on to say that the Israeli settlement policy and corresponding actions, such as involuntary relocation, evictions, house demolitions, and seizures, are against international humanitarian law.

“Demolitions in the West Bank have a devastating, long-lasting social and economic effect on Palestinian families and their children, making them further dependent on humanitarian assistance. In particular, the mental wellbeing of children are being impacted. In the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, many children suffer the trauma of watching their homes and schools being destroyed.”

On Tuesday, the Israeli occupation demolished a Palestinian business complex consisting of a carpentry store and a livestock farm in Deir Ballut, located west of Salfit.