The demolition/explosion of the house of Raafat (Ra’fat) Dawasa in Silat al-Harithiya, west of the city of Jenin, took place on 18 February 2026 (overnight into that day or early morning). On February 17, 2026, Israeli bulldozers had already begun demolishing the house that day.

On February 17, Israeli bulldozers began demolishing the house after evacuating the neighboring houses. The occupation had stormed the town and fired live bullets at school students, coinciding with the storming of the town of Al-Yamoun, accompanied by “-Eitan” armored vehicles, and closed the entrances leading to Silat Al-Harithiya from the Al-Yamoun side.

At 09:30, on February 18, the occupation forces demolished a 3-story house owned by the family of the martyr Raafat Mahmoud Sobhi Dawasa.

At 12:30, they fired stun grenades and tear gas towards citizens, under the pretext that they had been stoned while demolishing a house.

Dawasa was part of the squad that laid the charge that led to the fall of the Israeli late Capt. Alon Sakaggio, wounding 16 other soldiers in operational activity in Jenin on 27 June 2024. In addition, Dewasa took part in the attack at the Meholah Junction in which the Israeli late Jonathan Deutsch was murdered, and another Israeli citizen was injured on August 11, 2024. Dawasa was killed By an Israeli airstrike on August 18, 2024, as a result of the bombing of a vehicle in which he was traveling with Ahmed Abu Arra, and the Israeli authorities notified the family last October of their intention to demolish the house.

This operation is as part of broader Israeli military incursions in the Jenin area. This huge explosion, demand an evacuation order for all the neigborhood and caused civilian damage to surrounding homes.

Israel has a long-standing policy of demolishing or blowing up homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks presented as a deterrence measure against future violence but mostly used as occupation tool and retalation against the family of the Palestinian resistants. Home demolitions are highly not allowed by the International law: Human rights organizations (e.g., Amnesty, HRW) argue they constitute collective punishment, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law.

Israeli explanation (official narrative):

According to Israeli sources, the house belonged to Raafat Dawasa, described as a senior Hamas operative in the Jenin area. He was accused of involvement in attacks in 2024 that killed two Israelis (an Israeli soldier and a civilian "The senior Hamas operative from northern Samaria took part in the killings of IDF Capt. Alon Sacgiu, 22, and Yonatan Deutsch, 23."). He himself was killed in August 2024 during an Israeli operation. The demolition was presented as part of counter-terrorism measures and ongoing military activity in northern West Bank.

IDF we site precises that "IDF forces from the Yahalm unit, the Yiftah MGB, the engineering forces of the Menashe Brigade and the forces of the Nahal Patrol completed a "divisional" operation in the village of Silat al-Hartiya last night (Tuesday)."