WarSclerotic

Mere hours after the IDF demolished the home of a terrorist who killed an Israeli soldier, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a directive to rebuild the home, an official in Ramallah said Sunday.

The IDF ‘s Duvdevan ‎‎‎counterterrorism unit demolished the home of Islam ‎‎Yusuf Abu Hamid‎, who on May 24 dropped a marble slab ‎‎on 20-year-old Staff ‎Sgt. Ronen Lubarsky during a ‎routine ‎raid in the al-‎Amari refugee ‎camp, killing him.‎

Abu Hamid was arrested on June 13. His family ‎appealed to the High Court of Justice to prevent the ‎demolition, arguing that razing their home ‎constituted ‎‎”disproportionate punitive action.”

However, ‎the petition was denied.

Israel demolishes the homes of terrorists as a deterrent measure to dissuade potential terrorists from committing attacks.

IDF troops destroyed Hamid’s home with two controlled explosions in an operation involving dozens of ‎soldiers and military vehicles on Saturday night. The operation was complicated as the home ‎was located in the center of the densely populated ‎camp.

Residents of al-‎Amari‎ began clashing with the ‎Israeli forces almost immediately, and the troops ‎used crowd control measures to disperse them.

The demolition took place after Prime Minister ‎Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also acting defense ‎minister, ordered the IDF to step up its ‎counterterrorism efforts in the area in the wake of ‎the spike in terrorist attacks across Judea and ‎Samaria in recent weeks. ‎

The IDF has been ordered to demolish ‎terrorists’ homes within 48 hours of the identification of an attacker, and to ‎step up raids and arrests. The Defense Ministry ‎has also decided to revoke the entry permits to ‎Israel granted to terrorists’ relatives and ‎accomplices. ‎ ‎