Nablus /PNN/

The Israeli occupation army announced last night it will soon be demolishing the house of the family of Khaled Mustafa Sabbah, a Palestinian who allegedly carried out a shooting operation on June 20 killing four Israeli settlers.

The occupation army said in a statement that the house of Sabbah’s family in the village of Urif, to the south of Nablus, will be demolished soon in retaliation for their son’s shooting to death of four Israeli settlers. No date was given for the intended punitive demolition.

Sabbah, 24, along with Muhannad Saleh Shehada, 26, carried out a shooting operation on June 20 killing four Israeli settlers at a gas station on the Nablus-Ramallah highway. Shehada was killed at the scene of the operation by Israeli army and police, while Sabbah was killed about two hours after the operation in the city of Tubas, north of the West Bank.

The Israeli policy of punitive home demolitions is a central feature of the Israeli apartheid regime in occupied Palestine, where only the family homes of Palestinians who are convicted of killing Israelis are demolished, while this policy does not apply to Israeli Jewish settlers who murder Palestinians.

Israeli occupation authorities have long used to punitively demolish the family homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks on Israelis, a policy that Israel does not apply to Israeli settlers who are involved in fatal attacks against Palestinians.