Ramallah: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered Israeli occupation forces against ousting Israeli families who have occupied a Palestinian house, near the Al Ebrahimi Mosque, in the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank, in a move expected to ignite the region.

Earlier this week, 15 Israeli colonist families moved into the three-storey building, which is owned by the Palestinian Al Rajabi family and is strategically located just south of the mosque.

Emad Hamdan, who heads Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, said Israeli occupation forces were deployed to the area to protect colonists. The committee and the Al Rajabi family lodged a complaint with Israeli police, demanding that occupation authorities immediately evacuate the colonists from the property by force.

Hamdan said Jewish colonists first raided the house and occupied it in 2012 but were removed by Israeli forces. They then declared the house a sealed military zone, which was disputed by its Palestinian owners and Hebron rights organisations, through the Israeli courts. No verdict had so far been issued.

The Israeli colonists claim to have purchased the house but have failed in the past five years to provide any documents proving their ownership.

The Israeli Civil Administration, which runs the occupied West Bank on behalf of the Israeli government, set up a special investigative committee to look into the issue, and has found no evidence to support the colonists’ claims.

Earlier this month, the UN’s world heritage body recognised the old city of Hebron and Al Ebrahimi Mosque as Palestinian world heritage sites, sparking outrage from Israel.

Hamdan said the Israeli takeover of the Al Rajabi house was done to spite the Unesco ruling, with the tacit support of the Israeli government.

Israel captured and Occupied the West Bank during the 1967 War — a move never recognised by the international community.

Since the occupation, Israeli authorities have set their sites on Al Ebrahimi Mosque (biblically known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs) and strategic areas around it.

The ancient mosque is the third oldest and fourth most important religious site in Islam.

It houses the tombs of the Prophets Ebrahim, Ishaq, Yaqoub and Yousuf.

Israel has been restricting Palestinian and Muslim access to the holy site and divided it into Jewish and Muslim sections.

Access to the smaller Muslim section, is severely restricted by Israeli forces.