The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that the Israeli occupation authorities demolished or seized 617 Palestinian structures in the West Bank, displacing 898 Palestinians.

OCHA said that the new figures represent a noticeable increase compared to those documented in 2018. 

Over 20% of all structures targeted in 2019 and some 40% of all donor-funded aid structures were located in firing zones, which cover about 30% of Area C, it added.

In a newly released report covering the period 10-23 December, OCHA said that the Israeli occupation authorities demolished or forced people to demolish 29 structures in Area C and East Jerusalem over the past two weeks, displacing 45 Palestinians and affecting over 100 others.

12 of the targeted structures, including five previously provided as humanitarian assistance, were in three herding communities located in areas designated as firing zones for military training in the Tubas, Nablus and Jericho governorates.

During one of the demolitions in a firing zone east of Nablus, Israeli occupation forces uprooted or cut about 2,500 forest trees and saplings, according to OCHA's report.

The trees were part of a recreational area (also described by Palestinians as a 'nature reserve') serving some 14,000 residents in the nearby town of Beit Furik and the Khirbet Tana herding community.

During the same reported period, some 80 Palestinian farmers from three villages in Salfit governorate lost access to their land behind the West Bank apartheid wall after the Israeli occupation authorities confiscated their entry permits.