The Supreme Court on Sunday delayed a hearing on whether several Palestinian families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah would be evicted from their homes.
"In all the circumstances and in light of the attorney general's request, the regular hearing for tomorrow, May 10, 2021 (is) canceled," it said in a statement, adding it would schedule a new hearing within 30 days.
The hearing slated for Monday, which is also Jerusalem Day — a holiday commemorating Israel capturing the city from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War — was postponed at the request of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.
Justice Yitzhak Amit ordered an injunction on the matter, putting a halt to evictions in the meantime.
The legal case centers around the homes of four Palestinian families residing on land claimed by Jews.
Earlier this year, the Jerusalem District Court ruled the homes legally belonged to the Jewish families, citing purchases made decades ago.
The Jewish plaintiffs claimed their families lost the land during Israel's 1948 War of Independence, a conflict that also saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes.
The Palestinian families implicated in the case have provided evidence that their homes were acquired from Jordanian authorities in the 1950s, who controlled East Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967.
The legal dispute has led to almost daily violence and standoffs between Palestinians and Jewish settlers, with dozens injured and arrested on both sides.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, along with the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinians seek all three territories for a future state and consider East Jerusalem their capital.
East Jerusalem is home to some of the holiest sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims, and its fate is among the most divisive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.