Bulldozers tore down the 700-square-meter steel buildings belonging to Aziz Jamil Jaabees in the al-Salaa neighborhood in Jabal al-Mukabbir, the Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights said.

Jaabees told the group his family had already paid 30,000 shekels ($7,720) for a lawyer to prevent the demolition.

The animal shelters were the only source of income for five households, the center added.

Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti warned in May that a spate of recent demolition orders were part of Israel's "race against time" to Judaize Jerusalem by imposing facts on the ground.

On Monday, the Israeli Interior Ministry approved the building of a tourist center in East Jerusalem, sparking outrage among residents who say it will lead to more forced evictions of Palestinian homes and exert Israeli control over the area.

Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the rest of the world.