Israeli bulldozers backed by army forces demolished five makeshift homes belonging to Palestinian families in the town of Eizariya near Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) in the early hours of Monday.

Israeli forces evicted residents from their wood-and-cardboard homes, leaving them without shelter in the nighttime cold, Sami Abu Ghalieh, secretary of the Jahalen Bedouin Committee, told Anadolu Agency.

"None of the five makeshift homes exceeded 50 square meters, and together they had housed 55 Palestinian Bedouins, mostly children," Abu Ghalieh said.

"Bulldozers also razed a vegetables shop and a carwash, which had been the source of 60 people's livelihoods," he added.

Israel currently seeks to evict local Bedouin tribesmen from their homes in the area to make room for a planned separation barrier that will separate the towns of Abu Dees, Eizariya and Swahreh from Al-Quds.

Jahalin Bedouin, who have already been displaced by Israel several times since 1948, currently live east and northeast of Al-Quds near the Ma'ali Adumim settlement, one of the largest Jewish-only settlements in the area of Al-Quds.

International law considers the West Bank and Al-Quds to be occupied territories captured by Israel in 1967, deeming as illegal any Jewish settlement building on the land.

PHOTO CAPTION

A bulldozer works on a Palestinian home demolished in East Jerusalem Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014.

AA