Israeli occupiers seize 8 Palestinian homes in eastern West Bank

Israeli occupiers seized eight Palestinian homes on Wednesday in Al-Duyuk al-Tahta, a village west of Jericho in the occupied West Bank, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Citing security sources, WAFA said the occupiers arrived with their families, smashed the doors and took over the homes while their owners were away.

Israeli troops entered Jericho and its refugee camps later Wednesday, driving military vehicles through their streets, the agency said.

WAFA said Israeli occupiers have repeatedly broken into and seized homes in Al-Duyuk al-Tahta as illegal settlements expand in the area.

Earlier Wednesday, the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said Israel had confiscated 2,536.44 dunams (nearly 627 acres) from three villages northwest of Ramallah by declaring the land "state land."

The commission said the declaration, issued Tuesday, covered land belonging to Beitillu, Al-Mazra'a al-Qibliya and Deir Ammar near the illegal settlement of Kerem Reim.

The commission warned that the designation allows Israeli authorities to allocate the land for settlement expansion, threatening farmland and limiting the villages' room to grow.

Around 750,000 Israeli settlers live in 194 illegal settlements and 400 outposts across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to official Palestinian figures.