BETHLEHEM: When Mohammed Adnan Sbeih, also known as Abu Amous, began building a home for his family, he believed years of sacrifice would finally provide the stability he had worked so hard to achieve. Instead, 4 years of continuous labor, decades of savings, and mounting debt were erased within hours when Israeli forces demolished the two-story house in September 2025.
Standing before the ruins of what was once his family’s dream home in the town of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, Abu Amous looked across the debris and raised his hands in prayer, hoping for compensation after an unimaginable loss.
“With the demolition of the house, everything was gone,” he said. “The house, with two floors of 270 square meters each, cost around 1.3 million shekels ($427,645). I sold all of my wife’s gold, spent everything I had saved over 20 years, used my son’s savings, and even sold my old apartment to my brother. It is incredibly painful to watch your dream collapse before your eyes.”
Mahmoud Abdullah, a member of Al-Khader municipality and head of its agricultural activities, described the town’s situation as ‘disastrous,’ saying Israeli policies have intensified significantly since Oct. 7, 2023.
Despite losing the house, Abu Amous remains burdened with approximately 45,000 shekels in construction-related debt. Unable to remain without shelter, he was forced to repurchase the apartment he had previously sold, despite lacking the financial means to do so, further deepening his debt.
