The international aid agency Oxfam demanded Monday that Israel compensate Palestinians in a northern Jordan Valley village after soldiers destroyed at least $29,000 of aid.
In a statement, the charity said villagers in Al-Farisiya were forced into poverty when soldiers demolished 79 structures in the village, including homes, stables, sheds, water tanks, two tons of animal fodder, fertilizer and wheat.
An initial assessment by Oxfam and other NGOs in the area calculated that the demolitions affected 113 Palestinians, half of them children and identified as some of the poorest in the area.
Water tanks and irrigation pipes provided by Oxfam were among the damaged goods.
Oxfam’s advocacy officer, Cara Flowers, said the area looked like “a natural disaster had taken place,”
adding that “With no access to shelter, water or fodder for their goat and sheep herds,
an entire community is being forced to leave their land.”