ISRAELI forces demolished the home of Palestinian fighter Muhammed Kamel al-Jabari on Thursday after a deadly shooting in the occupied West Bank.  

The military said the demolition was carried out after an Israeli court rejected appeals to spare the residence. The home, in the West Bank city of Hebron, was demolished in a controlled explosion during the early hours of the morning. 

Palestinians say the home demolitions amount to collective punishment against the families of freedom fighters, while the Israeli authorities say they are meant to deter future attackers.

In the fatal shooting incident last year, Mr al-Jabari opened fire at the entrance to an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, killing an Israeli man and wounding several civilians before a security guard shot him dead.

This comes as Israel’s parliament approved a new law on Wednesday to strip Arabs of their Israeli citizenship, rights to residency and to allow their deportation to the occupied West Bank or Gaza Strip if they have accepted stipends from the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian Authority has long provided payments to the families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned for attacks on Israelis.

But Israelis say the payments are an incentive for others to carry out further attacks.

The decision was condemned as racist by rights groups.

Kadoura Fares, the head of the Palestinian prisoners’ club, a group that represents prisoners and their families, said the law was a “very dangerous decision that aims to transfer Palestinians from their cities and villages under the pretext of getting social assistance from the authority.”

Israeli rights group HaMoked executive director Jessica Montell said: “It’s shameful that this law passed.

“Revoking citizenship is an extreme measure — and revoking the residency of east Jerusalem Palestinians and deporting them would be a war crime.”