Palestinians in Hebron have been subjected to days of Israeli raids and forced displacement in the latest assault on the occupied West Bank city. Israel has imposed a lockdown on Palestinians and detained at least 47 Palestinians across Hebron since Friday, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society. About 2,500 people have been forced out of the city as some Palestinian homes have been converted into military posts and barracks.
The operations followed a shooting attack on Friday that killed two soldiers while the two Palestinian suspects were also killed. Here is what to know about Israel’s latest assault on Hebron: Hebron has been subject to severe collective punishment by Israeli forces that has impacted about 900,000 Palestinians. The military lockdown began immediately after a Friday morning shooting at a military checkpoint in the Farsh al-Hawa area.
After the closure of all entrances to the city, Israeli forces launched a large demolition operation on dozens of Palestinian buildings. Troops also stormed the Ein Deir Bahha neighbourhood, forcing dozens of families to flee from their homes at night without any belongings. According to Hebron municipality data, the targeted displacement area covers 350 dunams (35 hectares or 86 acres), and nearly 500 Palestinian families have been uprooted.
Hesham al-Sharbati, a human rights researcher, told Al Jazeera that the military’s actions represent “a complete eviction campaign for a Palestinian residential neighbourhood”. He said what is happening is “a form of ethnic cleansing” and the collective punishment of the Palestinian community “amounts to a war crime”. Moamar Yousef al-Awiwi, a Hebron municipal council member, said the latest Israeli operation in the city comes after a series of measures aimed at displacing the Palestinian population.
Rights groups have compared the current assault on Hebron to the tactics used during the January 2025 “Iron Wall” operation in the Jenin and Nur Shams refugee camps, which displaced more than 30,000 people and destroyed over half of their residential buildings. Hebron is an important city for the Palestinian economy, which is in the midst of a severe crisis caused by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and pogroms and raids by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank. Hebron accounts for about 40 percent of Palestinian industrial output and 30 percent of exports, but economic activity has been badly affected by recent Israeli restrictions and assaults.
Hebron has the highest concentration of military obstacles in the West Bank with about 40 percent of the 89 main checkpoints in the occupied territory concentrated in the city’s most highly restricted zones. Economic researcher Ahmed Abu Qamar said the current restrictions on Hebron will be felt widely due to the city’s economic significance for the West Bank. The daily life of Palestinians in Hebron is also badly affected by the hundreds of Israeli settlers in the Old City.
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