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HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli bulldozers demolished a dairy factory in Hebron and Bedouin homes east of Jerusalem early Tuesday, witnesses told Ma'an.

Locals said Israeli troops escorted two bulldozers and two excavators to the al-Rama neighborhood in northern Hebron and began demolishing the factory, which is owned by Hebron's Islamic Charitable Society.

Journalists and bystanders were not allowed to approach the area which the Israeli army declared a closed military zone during the demolition, witnesses said.

Hatim al-Bakri, who chairs the board of directors of the Islamic Charitable Society, said the damages inflicted a loss of "about 2 million US dollars."

"Services the Charitable Society offers to orphans in the Hebron district will be badly affected," al-Bakri said.

He said Israeli forces had confiscated the factory's belongings during the month of Ramadan.

Israel accuses the organization of being tied to Hamas, he added.

Separately, a Ma'an reporter said Israeli forces demolished Palestinian homes and structures near Jabaa village east of Jerusalem.

Bulldozers demolished five houses, four steel structures, and a barn that belonged to Bedouin families.

Local resident Jumaa Suleiman al-Maazi said bulldozers and military vehicles showed up without warning and demolished his house, where he said nine people lived.

Al-Maazi said he had received a demolition notice weeks earlier, but that there was no official "judicial order."

Eighteen Bedouin families have lived in the area since 1947, he said, adding that locals have been continuously threatened by Israeli settlers nearby.

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