Earlier this month, an Israeli court order declared 13 houses of Palestinian residents of the Al-Bustan neighbourhood in the Siwan district of the city illegal. The authorities said the residents need to demolish their properties by 27 June or face a $6,000 fine.

Sputnik is live from Jerusalem, where tensions are mounting after several houses and shops built by Palestinians were deemed illegal and set for demolition by the authorities.

Last month, a dispute over the houses’ legal status was one of the main reasons behind the Israeli-Palestinian clashes in Jerusalem that resulted in growing tensions on the Gaza border and a major conflict between militants from the enclave and the Israel Defense Forces.