The United States on Wednesday deplored Israel’s demolition of a Palestinian activist’s home in East Jerusalem, an Israeli-annexed sector of the Holy City, saying its ally was tarnishing its own image.

Fakhri Abu Diab, who has campaigned against the demolition of Palestinian homes for years, announced that “agents of the Israeli forces” demolished the house he had lived in for 38 years near the Old City on Wednesday morning.

“There were ten of us in this house. My wife, our three children and five members of the extended family,” the activist told AFP.

“Now we are literally on the streets asking neighbors and passers-by to help us. We became homeless,” he explained.

“It harms the image of Israel in the world”

In Washington, American diplomats condemned the demolition and asked Israel not to demolish any more houses.

Fakhri Abu Diab is “a community leader who is standing up against the destruction, and now his family has been displaced,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

“These actions hinder efforts to achieve lasting peace and security that will benefit not only the Palestinians but also the Israelis,” he added to the media.

According to him, these actions harm Israel’s image in the world and prevent us from doing everything we are trying to do in the interests of the Israeli people.

Part of the building, he noted, was built before 1967, when Israel annexed East Jerusalem, where Jewish, Christian and Muslim shrines are located.

For Fakhri Abu Diab, American reprimands are welcome, but the United States “should have put pressure on the Israelis in advance to prevent the demolition of my house.”

“This is an act of revenge, a campaign by the Israelis against the Palestinians in Jerusalem, which only intensified after October 7,” condemned Fakhri Abu Diab.

On October 7, members of Hamas entered Israel from the Gaza Strip, a territory that was under Israeli blockade at the time. As a result of this unprecedented attack, 1,160 people were killed, most of them civilians, and another 250 were taken hostage.

Since then, Israel has waged a devastating military campaign in Gaza, killing more than 28,500 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled territory’s Health Ministry.