Two Palestinian families in occupied East Jerusalem were forced on Monday to tear down their homes at orders of the Israeli occupation municipality of West Jerusalem, according to Wafa News Agency.

Khaled Abu Tayeh, member of the Silwan Land Defense Committee, said Iyad Abu Sbeih demolished his family home in Silwan neighborhood and Issa Illan Oweisat demolished his home in Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhood.

The Israeli municipality issued demolition orders against the Abu Sbeih and Oweisat homes under the pretext they were built without a permit and gave them a choice of either tearing their homes down by themselves or the municipality will demolish them and force them to pay exorbitant amounts in fines and costs.

Two other Silwan residents, Samir and his brother Suleiman al-Qaq, started emptying their two apartments of their furniture in order to self-demolish them to avoid paying the high cost of demolition if done by the Israeli occupation municipality.

Palestinians in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem say they are forced to build without a permit on their land because getting one is an almost impossible task. At the same time, the Israeli occupation authorities build thousands of new housing units in illegal Jewish-only settlements on expropriated Palestinian land in East Jerusalem.