The Israeli authorities, under the protection of police on Tuesday, demolished the homes of the residents of the village of Al-Araqib in the Negev region, for the 202nd time since 2000, the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) reported.
The last time the Israeli authorities demolished the homes of Al-Araqib village was on May 9, 2022.
This is the sixth time in a row that the village has been demolished since the beginning of this year, as the authorities demolished the village 14 times last year.
As per media reports, Al-Araqib is one of the dozens of Palestinian villages in the Negev desert, which are not recognized by the Tel Aviv authorities and are classified as illegal.
Houses in Al-Araqib are built of wood, plastic and tin, and are inhabited by 22 families, numbering about 800 people.
The people re-erect them each time from wood and a nylon cover to protect them from the intense heat in the summer and the bitter cold in the winter, and in response to plans for their uprooting and displacement.
The villagers have evidence of their ownership of 1,250 dunams (1.25 square kilometres) of land dating back to the 1970s, but the Israeli forces refuse to accept it and work to evict them from their property.
The Israeli authorities demolished the village for the first time on July 27, 2010, and since then it has been demolished every time residents rebuild it.
It is reported that Al-Araqib was built for the first time during the Ottoman rule on lands purchased by the residents.
