A Palestinian family was forced to self-demolish its own house in Ras al-Amud area in Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood at the order of Israeli occupation authorities on Saturday morning.
Local sources reported that Hussain Kanbar family, which consists of seven people, including children, forcibly self-demolished this morning its own house in the Ras al-Amud area at the order of the Israeli occupation municipality at the pretext of building without a permit.
“It is very hard to self-demolish your own house with your hands,” the owner of the house told local reporters.
The family was forced to self-demolish the house to avoid paying an additional exorbitant fine for the demolition costs to the Israeli municipality (the staff and the police) if it carries out the demolition.
Using the pretext of illegal building, ‘Israel’ demolishes houses and structures on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
At the same time, the Israeli occupation municipality and the occupation 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.
‘Israel’ has been moving settlers into the occupied Jerusalem neighborhoods since the 1980s. This has resulted in numerous human rights violations, including the forced displacement of Palestinian residents and house demolitions.
Hundreds of Palestinian families are being threatened with forced displacement and house demolitions by illegal settler groups, fully supported by the Israeli occupation government.
There are nearly 700,000 Israeli settlers living in 256 illegal settlements and outposts scattered across the occupied West Bank, including the eastern part of occupied Jerusalem. Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
In 2021, the Israeli forces demolished approximately 950 Palestinian-owned structures in the occupied West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, according to statistics by the Land Research Centre.
In 2022, Israeli occupation authorities forcibly carried out over 209 demolition and bulldozing operations against Palestinian structures in the occupied city of Jerusalem, according to Al-Qastal, a Palestinian network hub for Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem.
