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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces delivered four stop-work notices to Palestinians from the village of Zatara in eastern Bethlehem on Wednesday, claiming the buildings were not licensed, locals said.

Muheisen Abu Amriyeh, a local resident, told Ma'an that Israeli military vehicles escorted by Israeli Civil Administration officers raided the area and delivered stop-work notices to houses belonging to the Hassan Muheisin family.

A total of eight houses belonging to the family are now threatened with demolition, as Israel delivered another four notices to the same family 10 days ago, Abu Amriyeh said.

Five of the houses are at an early stage of construction while the other three are already inhabited.

Under the Oslo Accords, Palestinians are required to apply for a construction permit from the Israeli Civil Administration to build on Area C, which covers 60 percent of the West Bank, although in practice, only a handful of the applications are approved.

As a result, many Palestinian residents are often forced to build structures without permits, which are liable to be torn down later by Israeli forces.

About 33 percent of the lands of Zaatara are classified as Area C, according to the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem.