Occupation carries out extensive demolition operations in Al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan, injuring 4 Jerusalemites

Large forces of the Israeli occupation army, supported by heavy machinery and bulldozers, stormed the Al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan, south of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, where they began implementing a wide-ranging demolition campaign targeting citizens' facilities and properties. The forces imposed a strict security cordon on the area, preventing entry or exit, while soldiers climbed the roofs of neighboring houses to secure the demolition operations that affected commercial warehouses and agricultural sheds.

The destruction operations included warehouses belonging to citizen Muhammad Abd Odeh, designated for selling building materials, in addition to facilities designated for vehicles in the courtyards of homes belonging to the Odeh family. The demolition also affected warehouses of the Abu Diab family, which contained belongings and furniture from homes previously demolished by the occupation in the neighborhood, reflecting a systematic policy of pursuing residents in their remaining properties and tightening the noose on them to push them towards forced displacement.

Field sources reported that the demolition work was accompanied by brutal and direct assaults on residents who tried to confront the bulldozers, resulting in the injury of four citizens with wounds and bruises due to beating and abuse. Occupation forces obstructed the access of ambulance vehicles to the neighborhood for long hours, forcing medical teams to provide field treatment to the injured in difficult conditions before they were later able to transfer them to health centers.

In the context of the field escalation, occupation forces arrested two young men, Yazan Odeh and Yasser Dweik, after severely beating them during the raid, and took them to an unknown destination. These repressive measures come within the framework of the occupation's attempts to impose a new reality in the neighborhood, whose residents face the risk of mass displacement in favor of settlement projects and biblical gardens that seek to change the identity of occupied Jerusalem.

For its part, local sources in Jerusalem confirmed that the occupation authorities disregarded a judicial decision issued by the Central Court to stop demolition operations in the neighborhood, as they gave residents a formal deadline that did not exceed 20 minutes before starting the destruction. Concern prevails among the residents of Al-Bustan neighborhood about the expansion of the demolition area to include dozens of threatened homes, amid the occupation's insistence on implementing its settlement plans despite international and local warnings of the repercussions of these crimes.

The occupation authorities gave citizens only 20 minutes to object as a formal procedure, despite a judicial decision from the Central Court to stop the demolition.