HEBRON, West Bank, July 10 (Reuters)
- Israeli troops demolished a house in the West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday without giving the Palestinian family who lived there an explanation why, one of the family members said.
An Israeli army spokesman described the demolition, which destroyed the home of two brothers and their families, as a "military operation" but declined to comment further.
Such incidents have been rare in recent years in modern parts of Hebron away from the historic Old City, where tensions have long run high between Palestinians and Jewish settlers.
Faisal Karameh, 31, one of the two brothers, told Reuters soldiers forced the occupants from the house at gunpoint during the morning. After he told them his 39-year-old brother Jamal was not present, the troops demolished the two-storey building.
"We had no idea what they were doing," Karameh said. "My brother Jamal is a maintenance worker and a peaceful person."
A Palestinian security source in the city south of Jerusalem said the families had no known record of militant activity.
Israeli forces have demolished, by Palestinian estimates, nearly 3,000 houses in the past eight years, many on the grounds that they lacked building permits from Israeli occupation authorities and others in military action against guerrillas -- and also as punishment for the activities of relatives.