On Thursday morning, the IDF demolished the house of Alaa Kabha, the Palestinian terrorist who killed two IDF soldiers, Capt. Ziv Daus and Sgt. Netanel Kahalani, on March 16 by ramming them with his car.
Security footage of the attack near Mevo Dotan shows Kabha driving his car past the two soldiers before making a U-turn and returning to ram his car into them. The two soldiers were killed instantly; Kabha was moderately injured.
Kabha had been previously imprisoned for security offenses but was released in April 2017. The attack was praised by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, both of which called for “further attacks against the Zionist occupation.”
The demolition order was issued at the beginning of May, at which time two of his family members petitioned the Supreme Court, arguing that home demolitions are contrary to international law. They also claimed that the accusations against Kabha had not yet been proven. In addition, they argued that the apartment belongs to Kabha’s father and Kabha only lives in part of the apartment.The Supreme Court rejected the submission.
Kabha’s third floor 150 square meter apartment in the village of Barta’a was destroyed but the rest of the building was left intact.
House demolition is a controversial tactic used by the IDF to deter terrorist attacks. Some studies have shown the tactic to be a successful deterrent though its status under international law and the Geneva Convention is debatable.
