Israeli authorities demolished a five-storey residential building in the At-Tur neighborhood of annexed east Jerusalem on Tuesday, displacing approximately 70 Palestinian residents. The demolition, carried out by Israeli security forces accompanied by bulldozers, followed a demolition order issued the previous day.

The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate described the operation as part of a broader policy amounting to “forcible transfer” and warned it risked intensifying tensions in the area. The building housed around 10 apartments, where families like that of Hanine Hreibat, a teacher and mother of four, lived. Hreibat recalled that a large police presence arrived in the neighborhood before dawn and gave residents only minutes to leave. She reported feeling threatened during the raid, noting that police had weapons pointed at residents and only allowed her to retrieve essential items before the building was leveled.

Israeli officials, including Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir who was present at the demolition site, stated that the building was constructed without the necessary permits and described the action as enforcement of the law against illegal construction. Ben Gvir posted a video on social media showing himself inside a bulldozer, asserting that demolitions were targeting unauthorized structures in the city.

East Jerusalem has long faced a severe housing shortage, with many Palestinian residents citing the near impossibility of obtaining building permits from Israeli authorities. Israel contends that it regularly enforces building regulations by demolishing structures it deems illegal in both east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

The status of east Jerusalem remains a highly contested issue: Israel captured the area in the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it, declaring the entire city its unified capital. This annexation is not recognized by the United Nations or most of the international community. Palestinians, meanwhile, view east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. The city’s demographic makeup reflects the ongoing conflict, with over 360,000 Palestinians and approximately 230,000 Israelis residing in east Jerusalem.

The demolition has once again highlighted the tensions surrounding housing and urban planning policies in the city, with Palestinian authorities and residents decrying such actions as part of a strategy that threatens their presence in the area. Israeli authorities maintain that their actions are carried out under the framework of legal enforcement against unauthorized construction.