Israel to demolish Palestinian homes in Jerusalem’s Silwan neighbourhood

Israeli forces have notified several Palestinians in an occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood that their houses will soon be demolished.

Local sources told Palestinian Authority's (PA) official news agency Wafa News that occupying Israeli forces sent notices to Palestinians in the Silwan neighbourhood on Sunday informing them that their houses are soon to be demolished.

Staff from the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem entered Silwan were backed by an Israeli defence escort.

They handed notices to a number of citizens informing them about the municipality's intent to demolish their homes, under the pretext of construction without a permit.

Four out of five of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem live under the poverty line, and applying for building permits comes with various taxes and fees amounting to tens of thousands of dollars.

As a result, only seven percent of Jerusalem building permits have been allocated to Palestinian neighbourhoods in the past few years.

Applications for building permits are also known to take years to be processed.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces demolished two homes in Silwan under the same pretext that the homes did not have building permits.

Israeli soldiers escorted bulldozers as they surrounded East Jerusalem's Silwan district, closing all entrances and exits to the neighbourhood, according to Bethlehem based news agency Maan News Agency.

The Israeli forces then forced the residents of the two homes to evacuate, before the homes were demolished.