Today, Tuesday, the Israeli occupation authorities forced the Jerusalemite citizen, Yousef Atoun, to demolish his home in the town of Sur Baher, south of occupied Jerusalem.

According to local sources, the citizen decided to demolish his 90-square-meter house after receiving a notice from the occupation municipality to demolish it. If he does not do so, the municipality crews will demolish it and impose heavy costs on him for the demolition.

The sources added that he had gone to the occupation courts twenty years ago, in an attempt to prevent the demolition of his house and to obtain a permit, but the decision was to demolish the house, which houses seven people, including five children.

The occupation authorities force Palestinian citizens, especially in the occupied city of Jerusalem, to demolish their homes themselves under the pretext of lack of a permit. Whoever refuses this procedure, the occupation bulldozers demolish the house and impose heavy costs on the owner.

The occupation municipality in Jerusalem refuses to grant Palestinians building permits, and demolishes or forces them to demolish their homes, in a procedure that contradicts international laws and humanitarian laws that guarantee the right to housing, within the framework of the occupation’s systematic practices to forcibly displace Palestinians from the city of Jerusalem, in exchange for expanding settlements in the city and its surroundings.

It is noteworthy that the number of demolitions in the Jerusalem Governorate during the third quarter of 2024 amounted to 154 demolition and bulldozing operations, including 24 forced self-demolition operations and 118 demolitions carried out by the occupation’s machinery, in addition to 12 bulldozing operations, according to a report issued by the Jerusalem Governorate.