The Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem forced at night on Sunday a Palestinian man living in occupied East Jerusalem to self-demolish his residential structure, according to local sources.

Palestinian citizen Iqab Jaabis was forced to demolish his tin-roofed house in Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhood of East Jerusalem after the Israeli municipality issued a demolition order against the structure on claims it was built without a construction permit.

Palestinians are frequently forced to self-demolish their homes to avoid paying exorbitant and arbitrary fines to the Israeli occupation authorities, in an area where getting a permit from the Israeli municipality to build in the occupied section of the holy city is almost impossible.

Israel attempts to curtail Palestinian presence in the city at the same time as it continues to build tens of thousands of housing units in illegal Jewish-only settlements established on usurped Palestinian lands.