The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli Occupation Forces’ (IOF) demolition of a residential building in al-Tur Mount in occupied East Jerusalem, forcibly displacing around 80 Palestinians, mostly women and children. The demolition constitutes a further act in the ongoing policy of forced displacement and home demolitions targeting the Palestinian presence in the city and across the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
According to information collected by PCHR’s field researcher, at around 3:00 on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, IOF backed by military vehicles and accompanied by four bulldozers, excavators, and vehicles belonging to the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem, moved into the al-Tur neighborhood and surrounded a five-story residential building comprising ten apartments. The IOF forced the residents to evacuate the building without allowing them to take any of their personal belongings, documents, or money before bulldozers began demolishing the building. As a result, around 11 families of 80 people were forcibly displaced, around 80 percent of whom were women and children. The families were also deprived of their homes, property, and personal belongings. The demolition continued until around 11:30, after which the residents returned to the area following the IOF’s withdrawal and searched through the rubble for their documents, money, and belongings, including gold jeweler belonging to a woman who had recently married.
During the demolition, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived at the site with a security detail and climbed onto the cab of one of the bulldozers involved in the demolition.
Fayez Sa’id Khalafawi, one of the building’s residents and the owner of two apartments there, told PCHR’s field researcher that the IOF raided the building at dawn, broke down the apartment doors, and woke the residents, forcing them to leave the building immediately without allowing them to get dressed or take any of their documents, money, clothes, or personal belongings.
Khalafawi added that his son, Sa’id, lived in one of the apartments with his wife and six children, while Khalafawi himself lived in the second apartment with his wife and four children. He said that the families were forced to leave their homes in their pajamas, while the women left wearing their prayer garments, before the bulldozers began demolishing the building.
He added that between 8:30 and 9:00, the residents were surprised to see Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrive at the demolition site with a security detail. Ben-Gvir stepped out of his vehicle and climbed onto the cab of one of the bulldozers involved in the demolition. He said that the demolition continued until around 11:30, after the IOF withdrew from the area, the residents returned to search through the rubble for their documents, money, and personal belongings.
The demolition comes amid escalating demolitions of Palestinian homes and other structures in occupied East Jerusalem carried out by the Israeli occupation authorities under the pretext of unlicensed construction, while the Israeli authorities impose a planning and building regime that severely restricts Palestinians’ ability to obtain construction permits.
According to statistics on Jerusalem, the Israeli municipality carried out 427 demolitions between the beginning of the year and the end of September 2026, as part of a broader system of measures aimed at altering the demographic and geographic character of the occupied city and entrenching permanent facts on the ground.
PCHR views the Israeli National Security Minister’s public presence and participation in the demolition of a civilian residential building and the forced displacement of its residents, particularly as the Israeli elections approach, as reflecting the use of policies of demolition, displacement, and violations against Palestinians as tools in Israeli political competition. It also amounts to turning the suffering of the Palestinian population and the sanctity of their homes into an election campaign tool aimed at securing the votes of the Israeli right, at the expense of the Palestinian people and Israel’s obligations as an occupying power towards the civilian population.
In light of the above, PCHR calls on the international community to take immediate and effective measures to halt the policies of forced displacement, settlement, and annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory; ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians and their property; and work to end the occupation and enable the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights, including their right to self-determination.
