Director of Wadi Hilweh Information Center Jawad Siam on Tuesday said that the pace of Israeli excavations in Silwan town south of al-Aqsa Mosque has escalated recently.
Siam told the PIC that over 90 Palestinian homes in Wadi Hilweh area have suffered major cracks which increase the risk of collapse at any moment as a result of the Israeli excavations near and under al-Aqsa Mosque which have never stopped since 1967.
Siam held the Israeli government responsible for the consequences of these dangerous excavations overseen by Elad settler group in Silwan and its environs.
He told the PIC reporter that the five-member family of the Jerusalemite citizen Ashraf Abu Rmeila had to leave their house on Monday because of the damages it has sustained as a result of the tunnels being dug under Silwan.
He noted that Abu Rmeial is not the first family to leave their house recently. Siam and Oweida families evacuated their houses several months ago.
According to Siam a number of injuries had been reported in a dangerous collapse in an UNRWA school in Wadi Hilweh where 14 students fell in a deep hole after the floor of their classroom sank due to Israeli excavations.
The Palestinian activist called on all concerned Palestinian Arab and Islamic institutions to work to restore the historic buildings and Palestinian houses affected by these excavations in Jerusalem and prevent settler groups from taking control of the areas surrounding al-Aqsa Mosque by displacing their people.
