Abdel Raouf Arnaout
25 March 2026•Update: 25 March 2026
JERUSALEM
Israeli occupiers seized 13 Palestinian apartments Wednesday in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, bringing the total to 15 homes taken over the past four days, according to witnesses and rights groups.
Israeli police escorted occupiers from the Ateret Cohanim organization into the Batn al-Hawa area of Silwan, where two families were forced out of their apartments, witnesses told Anadolu.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said in a statement that the operation began with the eviction of the families from two apartments, followed by Israeli enforcement teams emptying 11 apartments belonging to Al-Rajabi family in preparation for their takeover.
The process was ongoing as authorities cleared the apartments to hand them over to settler organizations, citing claims that the land belongs to Jews of Yemeni origin, the statement added.
Videos circulating online showed Israeli authorities removing furniture from the apartments ahead of their seizure.
On Sunday, Ateret Cohanim took over two apartments belonging to Palestinian residents Raed and Mohammed Basbus.
The rights center said the Basbus family building is part of a settlement plan led by Ateret Cohanim to take control of about 5.2 dunams of land in Batn al-Hawa.
It said the claims are based on alleged ownership by Jews of Yemeni origin dating back to 1881, with the land divided into six plots that Israeli courts have ruled belong to occupiers.
The center added that the Basbus family received an eviction order in absentia in early 2025 and filed an appeal, which was rejected by a district court in September. The family was later notified of a final eviction order before the Supreme Court issued a ruling on their appeal.
The family says it purchased the land in 1963 and holds documents proving ownership, but courts rejected the claim, arguing the sale was conducted by a party without legal authority over land classified as belonging to Yemeni Jews.
According to the center, Israel has displaced about 15 families from Batn al-Hawa since Oct. 7, 2023, including the Shahada, Abu Nab, Ghaith, Odeh, Shweiki and Al-Rajabi families.
It added that around 15 families were also displaced in 2015, including Sarhan and Abu Nab families, from multi-unit residential buildings.
- Forced displacement
Israeli rights group B’Tselem said Monday that residents of Silwan face a “real risk” of displacement and land seizure.
It said evictions in Batn al-Hawa and Wadi Hilweh, along with home demolitions in al-Bustan, have displaced hundreds over the past two years.
More than 2,200 people — about 90 families — in Batn al-Hawa are at risk of displacement, including around 200 children, in addition to about 1,550 residents from 150 families in al-Bustan, according to the group.
B’Tselem called for urgent international intervention to halt what it described as a “policy of forced displacement” by Israeli authorities.
The group added that more than 30 Palestinian families have been displaced from Batn al-Hawa since 2015, with their homes taken over by occupiers, and that courts rejected multiple appeals before ordering 157 residents to leave their homes in rulings issued in late 2025.
It also said 35 homes had been demolished in al-Bustan as of February 2026, with 17 additional demolition orders issued.
In 2010, the Jerusalem Municipality proposed a tourist park project called the King's Garden, which was proposed to be built on the site of the Al-Bustan neighborhood, the center said.
Silwan, located south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is one of the most targeted areas for settlement building in East Jerusalem.
Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, while Israel considers the city in its entirety as its capital, a position not recognized by the international community.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul
