ISRAELI occupation forces flattened the family homes of three dead Palestinians yesterday in revenge for an attack which killed a policewoman.

Four bulldozers, escorted by more than 60 Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) jeeps, stormed the occupied West Bank village of Qabatiya, south of Jenin.

They demolished the homes of Ahmad Zakarnah, Ahamd Abu al-Rub and Muhammad Kameel.

The three were killed by police after they attacked two female officers with rifles and knives during a security check outside Jerusalem’s Old City district in February.

Local PLO official Ali Zakarnah told the Ma’an news agency that locals clashed with troops after the attack.

Five residents were rushed to hospital after being shot with live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets.

IDF troops had besieged the village of 20,000 people for three days prior to the assault, with many residents having their permits to work in Israel revoked.

In a return to the tactics of the second intifada of the 2000s, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expedited revenge demolitions in October.

Israeli rights group B’Tselem said the practice amounted to collective punishment on innocent family members and “court-sanctioned revenge.”

Israeli forces also demolished five homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem yesterday, claiming they had been built without planning permission.

Surif resident Azzam Mahmoud Gheimat said he was given no chance to appeal before his property, where his brother’s family of six lived, was torn down.

Tel Aviv rarely interferes in construction at illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.