JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL

Israeli authorities demolished a residential building housing nearly 100 Palestinians in the occupied East Jerusalem on Monday, in the latest home demolitions in the West Bank, witnesses said.

According to witnesses, Israeli municipal workers brought down the 13-apartment building in the Wadi Qadum neighborhood on claims of lacking a building permit.

Police forces assaulted Palestinians to keep them away from the site, they added.

The 1995 Oslo II Accord between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel divided the West Bank into three administrative areas: Area A under full Palestinian control; Area B under Palestinian civil administration and Israeli security control; and Area C under full Israeli civil and security control, which covers about 61 percent of the West Bank.

Palestinians say Israel rarely grants building permits in Area C, effectively preventing construction or land development.

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, an official body, Israel has carried out 1,014 demolitions across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October 2023. These demolitions have affected 3,679 structures, including 1,288 inhabited homes, 244 uninhabited homes, and 962 agricultural facilities.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.