Israeli forces demolish 3 homes in East Jerusalem

Israeli bulldozers this morning demolished three houses which were under construction and a steel structure in the Jabal Al-Mukaber neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem, on the basis that they lacked proper licences.

Local sources told Ma’an that Israeli municipality officials escorted by Israeli forces and a bulldozer raided Jabal Al-Mukaber and demolished the units which belong to the Eweisat, Abu Sakran and Aqil families, in addition to a steel structure used for housing livestock.

Amer Eweisat told Ma’an that Israeli forces raided and demolished his house, which was empty at the time of the incident, without any prior notice or warning.

Eweisat began building the new 100 square metre property a month ago, with the hopes of moving in with his family of five.

Ali Issa Abu Sakran said that his family was building a 50 square metre house for his brother who is currently held in an Israeli prison and is expected to be released soon.

The third house, which was to be 70 square metres, belonged to Hasan Aqil whose family began building it three months ago.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said she was looking into reports of the home demolitions.