Israeli authorities today, Sunday, destroyed a Palestinian school in the occupied West Bank, drawing strong condemnation from the European Union.

COGAT, a branch of the Israeli military, said in a statement that the building, located about 2 kilometers from Bethlehem, was built illegally and “has been deemed dangerous to the safety of anyone who studies or visits there.” An Israeli court “ordered it to be demolished.”

The European Union Delegation to the Palestinian Territories said on its official Twitter account that it was “shocked” by the demolition of the school, which it said would affect 60 children. The EU delegation said the demolition was “illegal under international law” and would “increase the suffering of the Palestinian population and further exacerbate an already tense situation”.

COGAT said the owner of the building backed off numerous attempts by the Israeli authorities to open a dialogue about the state of the building before it was demolished.

Students and witnesses said the building was destroyed, completely leveling the school that once stood there.

“We prepared to come to the school, and when we arrived, we didn’t find her,” student Mohamed Ibrahim told Reuters. “We want to go to school today! We want to learn if the Israeli forces continue to destroy, we will continue to build.”

Witnesses also stated that the contents of the building were confiscated. “They destroyed the school and took everything with them,” a local resident and witness, whose grandson attended the school, told Reuters. “All the furniture was loaded onto trucks and taken away.”

Israel has often cited the lack of building permits, which Palestinians and human rights groups say are almost impossible to obtain, to demolish Palestinian structures in the West Bank, an area it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

The Palestinians want more than half a million Jewish settlers, along with Israeli soldiers, to leave the occupied territories. Israel denies such a radical withdrawal, citing historical claims to biblical lands.

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Education called the demolition a “horrible crime” and said “the students of the school will be deprived of a free, safe and stable education, just like children in the rest of the world.”

An official Israeli source told Reuters that the dispute over the safety of the building had dragged on for six years and that a nearby school would take in students displaced by the demolition.

Source: Reuters.