Bulldozers tear down home as Israel cracks down in the West Bank

Bulldozers tore down Palestinian businessman Riyad Mureish’s home in Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Friday, as Israeli officials launched a fresh crackdown on residents there. Mureish, 49, who put his life savings into the house, told NBC News that Israeli soldiers gave his family just minutes to collect their valuables and identity documents before ordering them out. He said the house had been subject to a long-running dispute with Israeli authorities, who retain significant power over construction permits in the area. A court decree was in place that should have prevented any demolition, Mureish added, but the soldiers were unswayed by his pleas. “They demolished and took me out by force,” he said.

Now sheltering in a small room at a neighbor’s house with his wife and children, Mureish says he is still struggling to comprehend what has happened. He said: “No house, no land, no money, what can I do?” Videos captured the moment that bulldozers began to rip through the property. The scenes unfolded the same day that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood in another part of Hebron, wearing a military-style vest, and vowed to intensify operations across the occupied West Bank. After a shooting attack that left two Israeli soldiers and two gunmen dead, Netanyahu said the military would enter neighborhoods from which attackers