On January 02, 2018, the Israeli occupation municipality demolished  a room that is located in Nasiba Housing Complex in Beit Hanina town, north Occupied Jerusalem on the claim of "unlicensed construction".

Reportedly, the 45m² room is annexed to a residence owned by citizen Imad Ayyad in the fourth floor of a building.  The residence is house for Ayyad's seven member family including five children.

Citizen Fatima, Ayyad's wife, told Land Research Center the following:

"We live in this house since 2009, it is only 90m² and is composed of two bedrooms, a toilet and a kitchen. After our family became bigger in size, my husband built - in 2014- a room on the residence's roof with a total area of 45m² to be the third bedroom. When construction was over, employees from the occupation's municipality in late 2015 arrived  at the location and delivered us a demolition order to bring down the room. Ever since, my husband hired an attorney to follow up on the case in the Israeli court.

On Tuesday, January 02, 2018 employees from the occupation's municipality arrived at the home and knocked. I did not open for them since my husband was out. Shortly after, my husband arrived after I called him and tried to convince the staff that he would demolish the room by himself to avoid the demolition fees but the employees refused and brought down the room"

Land Research Center LRC sees that demolitions contradict with all of the International conventions and Humanitarian laws including:

• Article 17 of the (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating: “Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.”
• Section ‹G› of article 23 of the (1907) The Hague Conventions asserting: “In addition to the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially forbidden to destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war.”
• Article 53 of the Geneva Fourth Convention (1948) declaring: “Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.”
• Section 1, Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966): “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent."

This case study is part of Kan'aan Project