The Israeli occupation authorities on Wednesday demolished two Palestinian houses in the village of Beit Ta‘mir, east of Bethlehem, according to an activist.

Director of the Anti-Wall and Settlement Commission, Hassan Breija, was quoted by WAFA news agency as stating that an Israeli military force escorted two bulldozers to the village, where the heavy machineries tore down two houses under construction purportedly for being built without permits.

Owner of the demolished structures was identified as Elayyan Zawahreh.

Meanwhile, WAFA correspondent confirmed that Israeli forces tore down another house belonging to Nasri Sbeih in Harmala village, east of Bethlehem.

Israel refuses to permit virtually any Palestinian construction in Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and falls under full Israeli military rule, forcing residents to build without obtaining rarely-granted permits to provide shelters for their families.

In contrast, Israel much more easily gives over 700,000 Jewish Israeli settlers there building permits and provides them with roads, electricity, water and sewage systems that remain inaccessible to many neighboring Palestinians.