From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 22, 2025
Israeli authorities demolish East Jerusalem building home to 90 people, amid years-long legal battle
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
Municipal authorities are demolishing a four-floor apartment building in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, following a years-long legal battle over the property.
The building — which is home to some 90 people in 13 apartment units — is the largest residential structure to be demolished in the city this year, according to the Ir Amim organization, which advocates for Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
Authorities didn’t give residents prior notice before arriving to destroy the building at 4 a.m. this morning, residents tell The Times of Israel. A brawl broke out between residents and municipal personnel who came to assist in the evictions.
Jerusalem District police, who accompanied municipal authorities to maintain public order during the demolition, shut down the altercation and arrested two people. One police officer was injured when a rock was thrown at her, a police spokesperson tells The Times of Israel.
Footage from the scene shows a crowd of men in neon-green work vests, apparently workers for the municipality, encircling and clashing with a resident.
“The municipality brought them to help throw all the clothes out onto the street,” says Muayed Burkan, one of the building’s residents who was evicted today.
תראו את הטרלול הכהניסטי הבא: הבוקר החלה הריסת בתי הפלסטינים הגדולה ביותר עד כה בירושלים המזרחית, בשכונת סילוואן. אבל הפשע של הרס בתי עשרות המשפחות לא הספיק להם לבדו, אז הם גם שלחו עשרות נערים כהניסטים-מתנחלים ביחד עם כוחות ההריסה של הממשלה. הנה התוצאה לפניכם: pic.twitter.com/YosgBWNoZr
— Alon-Lee Green – ألون-لي جرين – אלון-לי גרין ???? (@AlonLeeGreen) December 22, 2025
In a statement, the municipality says the demolition of the building was based on a 2014 court order, and “the land on which the structure stood is zoned for leisure and sports uses and construction, and not for residential purposes.”
Watching the demolition from a nearby rooftop, 25-year-old Burkan tells The Times of Israel that he wasn’t given a chance to take furniture and other heavier belongings from his apartment, and they are all now being destroyed inside his former home.
The apartment complex was constructed in 2011 without a building permit, on open land in Silwan’s Wadi Qaddum area that had been zoned for non-residential use. Muayed says that he and his family were not aware that the building was unlawfully constructed at the time.
Residents had been trying since 2014 to retroactively legalize the building. Together with neighboring landowners, the residents’ lawyer Juma’a Khalaila submitted an 11-dunam (2.7-acre) planning proposal to the municipality in 2022, which aimed to regulate the apartment complex.
The municipality’s legal adviser Moran Revivo was slated to meet with Khalaila at 10 a.m. this morning to discuss possible steps toward regulating the structure, but the demolition began hours before the meeting’s scheduled start time.
According to Ir Amim, the proposal for regulating the building was coordinated with the municipal planning department and had been under discussion at the time of the demolition.
AFP contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.