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Scenes. Published by Maan News
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NEGEV (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian home in the Bedouin village of Umm Batin in the Negev desert in southern Israel on Thursday morning, locals told Ma’an.

According to locals, Israeli police raided Umm Batin and escorted bulldozers into the village, demolishing a wooden house belonging to Faris Abu Kaf.

Abu Kaf, his wife, and their four children were left homeless as a result of the demolitions.

An Israeli police spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Locals highlighted that Israeli authorities have carried out demolitions in the village despite the fact that, unlike many Bedouin villages in the Negev, Umm Batin was officially recognized by the state of Israel in 2005.
Demolitions targeting Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, specifically Negev Bedouins, have sharply increased since the beginning of 2017, including an Israeli police raid to evacuate the unrecognized Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran which turned deadly in January.

Rights groups have claimed that the demolition Bedouin villages is a central Israeli policy aimed at removing the indigenous Palestinian population from the Negev and transferring them to government-zoned townships to make room for the expansion of Jewish Israeli communities.