Israel demolishes home of alleged Palestinian attacker, fueling West Bank tensions

By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israeli security forces say they demolished the West Bank home of a Palestinian man accused of carrying out a deadly shooting attack earlier this year. Tuesday’s operation was the latest military incursion to fuel tensions in the occupied territory. Israel’s decades-old tactic of leveling the family homes of alleged Palestinian assailants has drawn intense criticism from human rights groups, which call it collective punishment — prohibited under international law. Israel defends such home demolitions as a deterrent meant to prevent future attacks. The incursion comes at a fraught time in the West Bank, as Israeli-Palestinian fighting surges to levels unseen in nearly two decades.