Israel speeds East Jerusalem demolitions amid Iran war, rights groups say

Israeli authorities have stepped up demolition orders in East Jerusalem while the war with Iran dominates attention, and residents in Silwan say the pressure is being applied through permits, eviction notices and bulldozers rather than open confrontation.

Fakhri Abu Diab, 62, has lived his entire life in Silwan, the Palestinian neighborhood just south of Jerusalem’s Old City and near Al-Aqsa Mosque. He said his family home was demolished two years ago after the Jerusalem municipality ruled that later additions were illegal, even though the original structure predated Israel’s 1967 occupation of East Jerusalem. Abu Diab has now received a new eviction notice. He said demolitions in Silwan have gone on for nearly two decades and are aimed at pushing Palestinians out to make room for settlers and settlement-linked religious and archaeological projects.

Human rights groups say the pressure in Silwan is part of a wider pattern across East Jerusalem and the West Bank. On June 10, 2025, the Jerusalem municipality reportedly issued demolition notices for the entire village of An Nu’man, home to 150 Palestinians. Eight days later, the Israeli Civil Administration rejected all building and planning permits for Palestinians in parts of Masafer Yatta, a move the United Nations said could pave the way for the expulsion of about 1,200 Palestinians there.

The U.N. said that between Oct. 7, 2023 and May 31, 2025, 6,463 Palestinians were forcibly displaced by home demolitions and more than 2,200 more by settler attacks and access restrictions. In March 2026, U.N. experts warned that Israel was accelerating measures that alter Jerusalem’s demographic composition, religious character and legal status. They said authorities issued 2,386 deportation decisions and carried out more than 1,732 demolitions and land-levelling operations between 2021 and 2025, often pressuring residents into self-demolition under threat of heavy fines or imprisonment.

The same experts linked the drive in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah to discriminatory laws and expropriation policies. B’Tselem said 48 homes had been demolished in al-Bustan since 2023 and that about 1,450 people face expulsion there. Other reporting put roughly 24 more families, or about 130 people, at imminent risk of displacement in Silwan, where the broader neighborhood is home to about 20,000 Palestinians. The U.N. also said 73,871 settler incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound were reported in 2025, underscoring how East Jerusalem remains a flashpoint even as the conflict widens.

The International Court of Justice said in a 2024 advisory opinion that Israel unlawfully occupies East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel rejects that view and considers East Jerusalem part of its capital.