RAMALLAH, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians on Thursday condemned the Israeli army for demolishing the homes in the West Bank city of Ramallah that belong to the families of two Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
The Israeli security forces are allegedly accusing the two Palestinians of killing an Israeli woman last August.
Palestinian security sources in Ramallah told Xinhua that clashes broke out between Palestinian demonstrators and the Israeli army forces during the demolition.
The Israeli soldiers fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, they said.
The commission in charge of prisoners' affairs in the Palestine Liberation Organization condemned the Israeli demolition as "part of the Israeli collective punishment."
The international community should "take a serious position toward the escalation of the Israeli occupier's crimes against our people and their properties," the commission said in a statement.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also condemned in a press statement the Israeli demolition of homes as "part of the U.S. Deal of the Century," referring to the Middle East peace plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
"The biased U.S. policies toward Israel and the deal have all encouraged the Israeli settlers to violate the Palestinian people's rights," the statement said.
Hazem Qassem, spokesman of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, said in a press statement that the demolition of the two homes in Ramallah "is a terrorist reaction and a manner of gangs."
