Israeli forces on Wednesday demolished two tourist facilities owned by Palestinian citizens in the northern West Bank district of Nablus.

Head of Zwata town, west of Nablus, was quoted by Wafa News Agency as stating that Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer into the town, where the heavy machinery demolished Maxim Land, which belongs to a local Palestinian resident.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Azem, the mayor of Sebastia town, said that Israeli military vehicles raided the town, where soldiers tore down a tourist facility under construction, close to the Roman amphitheater at the archeological site of Sebastia.

He added that he was assaulted by Israeli soldiers, who sealed off the site and seized a number of artifacts.

Located 11 kilometers to the northwest of Nablus, Sebastia is a small historical town located on a hill with panoramic views across the West Bank and has a population of some 3,000 Palestinians.

A prominent settlement during the Iron Age as well as the Hellenistic and Roman eras, the town embraces a Roman amphitheater, temples, a Byzantine and a crusader churches, dedicated to Saint John the Forerunner, who baptized Jesus Christ in the Jordan River, besides to a mosque built in honor of the saint. Christians and Muslims believe the town to be the burial place of the saint.

Israel has been attempting to take over the town, which has become a site of heated cultural conflict, preventing the Palestinians from conducting restoration works at the site, prohibiting providing tourist services to visitors from around the world, and stealing antiquities from it.