The Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem on Sunday ransacked the centuries-old al-Yousifieh Islamic cemetery in occupied East Jerusalem and razed Palestinian graves.

Mustafa Abu Zahra, caretaker of the Islamic cemeteries in Jerusalem, said that a municipality bulldozer ravaged the cemetery and destroyed a Muslim tomb, leaving the body bones scattered.

Palestinian eye-witnesses protested the move and forced the bulldozer out of the area. They said the Israeli authorities plan to build a Jewish-only park on the ruins of the cemetery and the bones of their beloved relatives.

Ahmed al-Dajani, executive director of the Commission for the Protection of Muslim Graves, told Anadolu Agency that an Israeli court has given the Israeli Archeology Directorate permission to work on a site close to the graveyard.

He said among the graves demolished were those of Muslims who were martyred in the conflicts between 1948 and 1967, and that Israel will face legal action in response to the municipality's act.

In Early December 2020, an Israeli municipality bulldozer demolished the cemetery’s stone wall, just a few days after destroying its staircase.