WATCH: (Scroll Down For Video) Over 1,200 Israeli troops entered the Shuafat refgugee camp in Jerusalem on Wednesday morning as authorities prepared to demolish the home of a terrorist.
The refugee camp is home to around 45,000 residents, which is reported to have a very high percentage of residents who pay arnona property tax for fear if they do not, they will lose their Israeli identity card.
Israeli judges had issued a demolition order for Akkari’s house a week after the attack, but the order was postponed due to complications with security measures, said the government.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed in October to accelerate home demolitions.
Speaking before the slated demolition, Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said in a statement that the police “won’t allow any disturbance of peace by residents, and will firmly defy any such attempts [to demolish the home] regardless of if they are caused by young or elderly people.”
The Shuafat camp was under total curfew for a few hours.
Helicopters hovering in the sky accompanied the troops, leaving the camp under lockdown with residents prevented from going outside. Akkari’s house was then surrounded before it was fitted with explosives and then blown up.
