15 February 2017•Update: 16 February 2017
JERUSALEM
The Israeli authorities on Wednesday demolished three Palestinian homes in the village of Hizma in occupied East Jerusalem on the pretext that they had been built without authorization, according to a Palestinian official.
"Bulldozers, backed by Israeli soldiers, arrived early this morning and demolished the homes on the pretext that they were built without government permission," Muwaffaq al-Khatib, head of the village’s local council, told Anadolu Agency.
"Israeli forces expelled Palestinian residents while setting off sound bombs and firing teargas, injuring one person," he said.
Al-Khatib added that 16 people, 10 of them children, had been living in the homes demolished on Wednesday.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Israeli authorities have razed more than 105 Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Jerusalem -- rendering more than 150 Palestinians homeless -- since the beginning of 2017.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the city in 1980, claiming all of Jerusalem as the Jewish state’s "eternal" capital -- a move never recognized by the international community.
Sacred to Muslims, Jews and Christians, Jerusalem is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which for Muslims represents the world's third holiest site.
Jews refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
