Israel Escalates Demolitions of Palestinians’ Homes in Occupied East Jerusalem

Under the cover of the Israeli genocide and ethnic cleansing campaign against the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians including more than 12,000 children, Tel Aviv is drastically ramping up home demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem.

According to Al Jazeera, in the eastern side of the city, the Jerusalem municipality has been escalating home demolitions since the brutal Israeli onslaught in Gaza began last year. East Jerusalem, where 362,000 Palestinians live, has been illegally occupied by the Israeli military for almost sixty years along with the rest of the West Bank.

Tel Aviv’s pseudo justification for their organized destruction of Palestinian homes is the claim that these residences are built without permits, which the municipality usually only issues to exclusively Jewish neighborhoods. Therefore, Palestinians are left without options and must build their homes in the absence of these permits, making 28% of their East Jerusalem homes “illegal.” Municipal elections will be held at the end of the month, in a bid to appeal to their Jewish constituencies, activists fear candidates are demanding more Palestinian homes be bulldozed.