Israeli occupation authorities on Sunday compelled two brothers from the At‑Tur neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem to demolish their own residential building, the Jerusalem Governorate reported.
According to the governorate, the building—constructed in 2000—had been subjected to repeated municipal fines over the years.
The owners were given a deadline of 26 June 2026 to carry out the demolition themselves in order to avoid the high costs and additional financial penalties imposed when Israeli municipal crews carry out the demolition.
Israeli authorities routinely force Palestinian residents, particularly in occupied Jerusalem, to self‑demolish their homes under the pretext of lacking building permits.
Those who refuse face demolition by Israeli bulldozers and are subsequently billed for the operation.
The Jerusalem municipality systematically denies Palestinians building permits while continuing to demolish homes or pressure residents to do so themselves.
These practices violate international law and basic humanitarian principles that guarantee the right to housing, and form part of a broader policy aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians from Jerusalem in parallel with the expansion of Israeli colonies in and around the city.
While Israel continues to build and expand its illegal colonies, Palestinian communities and towns in occupied Jerusalem and various areas in the occupied West Bank continue to be denied the right to build homes and property under various allegations meant to prevent the expansion of Palestinian towns and neighborhoods.
Last Month, Israeli occupation authorities have issued two new tenders for the construction of a colonial neighborhood in the illegal colony of Adam (Givat Binyamin), built on stolen Palestinian land northeast of occupied Jerusalem.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
