Israel demolishes East Jerusalem building home to 70

Israeli bulldozers demolished a five-storey residential building in At-Tur in annexed east Jerusalem on Tuesday, leaving about 70 residents of 10 apartments without their homes.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who was present at the demolition, said in a video on X that the building had been built without a permit. "We demolish what is illegal," he said.

The Jerusalem Governorate, the Palestinian local authority for the area, condemned the demolition as a dangerous escalation in home demolitions and "forcible transfer" and said it imposed a new demographic and urban reality.

Hanine Hreibat, a teacher and mother of four who rented an apartment in the building, said Israeli police arrived before dawn with three bulldozers, entered apartments and gave residents 10 minutes to leave. She said police allowed her to take only medicine, money, her handbag and ID card, and that she had nowhere permanent to go.

Residents said they had received a demolition notice on Monday but did not know when it would be carried out.

Israel regularly demolishes structures it says were built illegally by Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. Palestinian residents say permits in crowded east Jerusalem are almost impossible to obtain from Israeli authorities.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it, a move not recognised by the UN or most of the international community. More than 360,000 Palestinians and about 230,000 Israelis live there. Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, while Israel considers all of Jerusalem its unified and indivisible capital.