Photo: Poor Palestinian children turned homeless by Israeli occupation of their homeland are pictured near the rubble of their family house after it was destroyed by Israeli army tractors last week. Israeli troops razed a mosque and more than 10 other structures in two areas of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli occupying troops razed a mosque and more than 10 other structures in two areas of the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian sources told AFP.

Most of the demolition activity took place in the village of Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley, where residents said troops had razed a historical old mosque and its much-larger extension, which was built last year.

They also said troops had leveled more than 10 buildings used for sheep.

The army confirmed destroying the homes alleging they had been built inside a military firing zone.

At the opposite end of the West Bank, Israeli occupying troops destroyed a building which was home to 18 people in the southern town of Yatta, the family and municipal officials told AFP.

Khirbet Yarza is located in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli control and where all construction and planning issues come under the jurisdiction of the Israeli Civil Administration.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the demolitions, including that of a new road only opened in September by prime minister Salam Fayyad near Salfit in the northern West Bank.

"Our efforts to construct a (Palestinian) state come up against the destruction of this state by Israel," a statement said, pointing out that the building of the new road had been largely financed by international donors.

Israel controls some 60 percent of the Palestinian territory, especially areas around Jewish illegal settlements.

Figures from the Israeli NGO Bimkom show that around 95 percent of Palestinian applications for a building permit are rejected, with the Civil Administration only granting around 12 permits a year.

United Nations figures show that in 2009, Israel occupiers destroyed 180 Palestinian structures in Area C, including 56 residential buildings.

Residents said the road allowed them to reach their fields in a valley near the hilltop village and haul out their harvests with cars instead of the donkey carts they used in the past.

Meanwhile, A new Israeli plan for a train line linking central Israel to settlements deep in the West Bank drew criticism Friday from Palestinians already angry over Israel's refusal to meet their demand for a full halt to settlement construction.

The line is supposed to run from the suburbs of Tel Aviv to the northern West Bank - an area where Israel's presence is not internationally recognized and which Palestinians want as part of their future state.

The local daily Maariv reported Friday that Israel Railways has budgeted $820,000 to plan the line. An Israel Railways spokesman confirmed the existence of the plan but offered no further details.

The project was denounced by a spokesman for the Palestinian government in the West Bank.

A different Israeli train project, a new fast rail line from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, has also angered Palestinians because the route veers into the West Bank. That line is already under construction.