The entrance to the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Photo: Tamar Hayardeni/Wikimedia.

i24 News – Police authorities were in a standoff Monday with a Palestinian man who carried a gas canister onto the roof of his home in Jerusalem as his family faced eviction.

Israeli media reported that Mohammed Salhiya threatened to set himself on fire if the eviction order from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem was carried out.

Salhiya, whose family has faced an eviction threat since 2017, was on the roof of his home with a large gas canister, Israeli police and an AFP journalist said.

Police and the Jerusalem Municipality said in a joint statement that delegates went to the home early Monday to carry out an eviction order after the land was allocated for school construction “for the benefit of residents of the neighborhood.”

Negotiators were reportedly at Salhiya’s home after several residents of the house “began to fortify themselves with a gas canister and other flammable material.”

Witnesses told AFP that clashes between security forces and locals erupted after the police arrived, but later eased.

Hundreds of Palestinians are facing evictions from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah and other east Jerusalem neighborhoods.

An 11-day conflict between Hamas in Gaza and Israel erupted last year, as well as internal Palestinian-Israeli clashes, sparked by anger over eviction orders in Sheikh Jarrah.

Jerusalem City councilor Laura Wharton, who was at the scene and due to meet the Salhiya family later Monday, criticized the municipality’s actions.

“They could have built the schools in the same plot without moving the families. There is plenty of space,” she said.

“The sad thing is this is the municipality itself doing this, it’s not some right-wing settlers.”