Israeli Army Razes Home of Palestinian behind Police Killing

Israeli troops on Wednesday demolished the home of a Palestinian man charged with the murder of a high-ranking Israeli police officer earlier this year, the army and Palestinian witnesses said.

Witnesses in Idhna village, 10 kilometers (six miles) west of Hebron, told AFP troops arrived during the night and blew up the home of Ziad Awad, 42.

Awad has been charged with murdering Baruch Mizrahi, a senior officer in police intelligence, in an April shooting incident on a road near Idhna.

His 18-year-old son Ezzedine, who lives in the same house, was charged with being an accessory to murder. Both are Hamas members.

Awad was released from jail in 2011 as part of an exchange deal for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held by the Islamist movement for five years.

The Israeli military confirmed the demolition had been carried out after the High Court rejected a petition filed by Israeli rights group HaMoked.

"As part of the ongoing mission to combat Hamas terrorism (in the West Bank)... IDF (army) forces demolished the residence of Ziad Hasan Khalil Awad in Idhna," it said.

"The implementation of the demolition order serves to deter, and conveys a severe warning to terrorists and their accomplices that their actions will bear severe consequences," Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said.

Mizrahi's wife and child were wounded in the shooting, which occurred at the start of the Jewish Passover holiday on April 14.