Israeli forces demolished a four-story building which was under construction in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Issawiya this morning, despite its Palestinian landowner having meeting with Israeli authorities to postpone the demolition scheduled for tomorrow.

Owner of the building, Hanan Mahmoud, told Ma’an that she and her family were surprised when four bulldozers escorted by armed Israeli forces stormed the area at around 4am and began razing the building to the ground.

Construction of the four-floor building – comprised of six apartments, with the ground floor planned to be used as shops – started about a year ago.

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Member of Issawiya’s follow-up committee, Muhammad Abu Al-Hummus, said the Mahmoud family had repeatedly tried to obtain a construction license from the municipality, but were refused as “it insists on displacing our residents by demolishing their houses,” he said.

Mahmoud said she had a scheduled meeting with the municipality later this morning to postpone the demolition order.

Meanwhile, Abu Al-Hummus explained that residents of Issawiya have also tried to submit master plans for the neighbourhood in order to obtain the municipality’s approval for the natural expansion of the community, “but the Israeli municipality always rejects the plans,” he said.