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JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli municipality workers on Sunday distributed orders for the demolition of eight buildings in East Jerusalem, witnesses and residents told Ma'an.

Witnesses said municipality workers accompanied by Israeli police issued demolition notices for buildings in the Silwan area of East Jerusalem.

The workers issued notices in the neighborhoods of Wadi al-Hilweh, Ein al-Lawza, Bier Ayub, and Wad Yasoul, witnesses said.

Resident Said Nasser said he was handed demolition orders for three car repair shops he owns in the Ein al-Lawza neighborhood.

He said he was notified that he would be fined 150,000 shekels ($43,000) for the shops' "illegal" construction.

The shops were built 20 years ago, he said.

Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It has demolished at least 27,000 Palestinian homes and structures since occupying the West Bank in 1967, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.