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JENIN (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Monday morning tore down the homes of three slain Palestinian attackers in the village of Qabatiya south of Jenin, local officials told Ma'an.

Ali Zakarnah, a local PLO official, said four bulldozers, escorted by more than 60 Israeli army jeeps, stormed the village and demolished the homes of Ahmad Zakarnah, Ahmad Abu al-Rub, and Muhammad Kameel.

He said fierce clashes broke out afterward, with five Palestinians evacuated to hospital after they were shot with live and rubber-coated steel bullets.

The three Palestinians to whom the houses belonged were shot dead in Jerusalem at the beginning of February after killing an Israeli police officer and wounding another in an armed attack outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City.

Israeli police said all three were armed with automatic weapons, and that explosive devices were later found near the scene of the attack.
Qabatiya, a village of some 20,000 people, has suffered several practices condemned as collective punishment since then.

For three days the village was completely sealed by the Israeli army, and many of its residents had their work permits revoked.

Dozens of punitive home demolitions have been carried out in the West Bank since they were expedited at the request of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in mid-October -- despite past recommendations by an Israeli military committee that they do not deter attacks.

Israeli rights group B’Tselem has said the practice amounts to collective punishment, carried out on family members who have not committed crimes in "court-sanctioned revenge."