A group of radical Jewish settlers took possession of a Palestinian house in the main southern West Bank city of Hebron overnight, witnesses said.
The settlers said they bought the three-storey house within a Palestinian neighbourhood of the Old City which is located close to a controversial Jewish enclave and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site holy to Jews and Muslims.
After taking possession of the building, the settlers could be seen hurling the old furniture into the street.
Under a 1997 accord with the Palestinian Authority, Israeli troops evacuated 80 percent of the city but continue to protect some 600 settlers living around the Tomb of the Patriarchs.