The Israeli occupation authorities issued on Wednesday demolition orders against four Palestinian homes and an animal barn in the southern West Bank town of Idna.

Four Palestinian families living in the western part of the town received the demotion orders against their homes.

The demolition notices were issued under the pretext they were built in Area C, which is under full Israeli military control where Palestinian development is banned.

According to the Israeli authorities, the extensive demolition of Palestinian homes and other structures in Area C is due to the structures being erected without Israeli-issued building permits. Between 1988 and 2014, the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) issued over 14,000 demolition orders against Palestinian-owned structures located in Area C on these grounds.

The vast majority of Palestinian applications for Israeli building permits in Area C are rejected by the Israeli authorities on the grounds that the relevant area has not been zoned for construction. This is the case even when the land for which the permit is requested is undisputedly owned by the Palestinian applicant. Consequently, it is virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits: according to data obtained by the Israeli organization Peace Now from the ICA, between 2009 and 2018 only two per cent of all requests submitted by Palestinians for building permits in Area C were granted (98 out of 4,422).