Occupied Jerusalem – Israeli occupation authorities today demolished a Palestinian two-story building in Beit Safafa neighborhood, south of the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Local sources reported that Israeli occupation forces stormed the Beit Safafa neighborhood and cordoned off the area where the two-story building is located.
The Israeli occupation bulldozers then demolished the two-story building, owned by Jerusalemite families of Joudeh and Teineh, where 13 people were living, including children.
Ahead of the demolition operation, the forces threw the families’ properties and furniture out of their houses. They also attacked two of the houses’ residents while carrying out the demolition.
The owners of the building stated that the occupation authorities demolished the building despite having a “construction permit”, a pretext that ‘Israel’ uses to demolish Palestinian-owned structures on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
The Israeli occupation municipality and government built tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements in occupied Jerusalem for Jews with a goal to offset the demographic balance in favor of the Israeli settlers in the occupied city of Jerusalem while demolishing Palestinian structures.
Hundreds of Palestinian families are being threatened with forced displacement and house demolitions from their homes by illegal settler groups, fully supported by the Israeli government.
There are nearly 700,000 Israeli settlers living in 256 illegal settlements and outposts scattered across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
The Israeli court had previously rejected many appeals filed by the residents of Jerusalem, and allowed settler organizations to continue its procedures relevant to the immediate expelling of the Palestinian families.
