Early in the morning of Oct. 24, the IDF demolished the home of Islam Abu Hamid’s family for a second time. Abu Hamid killed Sergeant First Class Ronen Lubarsky in May 2018, during an operation to capture terrorist suspects in the al-Amari refugee camp in the Ramallah district. A slab of marble that Abu Hamid threw at the IDF’s Duvdevan force operating in the camp hit Lubarksy on the head, critically wounding him. He died of his injuries two days later. The IDF reported that the Duvdevan unit that located and captured Abu Hamid in June 2018 also participated in the demolition operation. As for Abu Hamid, he was sentenced by a military court to life in prison plus another eight months for obstruction of justice, as well as a fine of 258,000 shekels ($73,000) — the maximum allowed in criminal cases.
Three months after he was captured, the IDF informed Abu Hamid’s family that it planned to demolish part of their home and gave them 10 days to prepare. Then the IDF reassessed and decided to demolish the entire home, apparently because of the Abu Hamid family’s history. Four of its members are in prison in Israel and Islam’s brother Nasser was a senior member of Fatah’s military wing, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
In response to the decision to demolish the home, the family filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, but it was rejected by Justices Dafna Barak-Erez and Yael Vilner. Justice George Kara wrote a minority opinion arguing that only part of the house should be demolished so as to leave a roof over the family.
The house was finally demolished in December 2018, after which the Palestinian Authority expressed its gratitude to the family and made them into heroes. In response to the demolition, Abu Hami's mother Um Nasser announced that the “house of sacrifice on behalf of the Palestinian people” would be rebuilt. At the same time, Palestinian minister Walid Assaf, who heads the National Committee to Resist the Wall and Settlements, announced that the PA would provide the family with housing and that under orders from President Mahmoud Abbas, a new home would be built to replace the one that was destroyed.
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