TEL AVIV.– Israel imposed a widespread lockdown and displaced residents in the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday, a day after attacks by Palestinian gunmen that killed two soldiers. All entrances to Hebron in the West Bank were closed to vehicle traffic, according to Basma Radio, a Telegram channel that Palestinians use to monitor checkpoints and road closures. The Palestinian Authority called for international community pressure on Israel to protect residents, who said soldiers announced the evacuations through loudspeakers at night while they took what they could before leaving.
“Around 2,000 have been displaced,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz in an interview with public broadcaster Kan. “They will not be allowed to return to their neighborhood until we have finished dealing with all of Hamas’s affairs in Hebron,” he added.
Israeli soldiers take up positions during an armed operation in the West Bank city of Hebron. Mahmoud Illean - AP
The Palestinian Authority, threatened by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a “big surprise,” called for the international community to exert pressure on Israel that goes beyond mere “condemnations.” In the face of “the growing threats of population displacement and destruction, urgent international action is needed,” declared Palestinian diplomacy, demanding “concrete and deterrent measures.”
The evictions in Hebron, the largest city in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, come just days before legislative elections that are expected to be very tight for Prime Minister Netanyahu. The Israeli leader had announced a major military operation just hours after the attack carried out by two Palestinians against a checkpoint near Hebron, a particularly sensitive city where hundreds of Israeli settlers live amid the Palestinian population. His National Security Minister, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, also a candidate in the legislative elections, again called on Friday for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, although there is no evidence linking it to the attack.
A man clears debris from a shop demolished by the Israeli Army near a checkpoint in Hebron. JOHN WESSELS - AFP
In the Deir Baha neighborhood, located between two hills, several buildings were marked with a cross to indicate they had been evacuated. The streets were deserted, with no residents outside, and only Israeli Army vehicles circulated, massively deployed in the area. An Israeli flag flew from a house located on a hill.
“Palestinian blood”
Higazi Shawer al Tamimi, a 70-year-old merchant, said he was awakened by Israeli soldiers at one in the morning. Like his neighbors, he was ordered to leave his home and given two hours to pack his bags, gather documents, and find somewhere to stay. All of this happened “because Benjamin Netanyahu wants to win” the elections with “Palestinian blood,” he denounced. “But we are not going anywhere.”
“They started with the neighborhood the attackers came from, but we have no guarantee that the operation will not spread,” said Hebron governor Khaled Dudin, who denounced a “collective punishment” against innocent civilians.
Palestinians watch the buildings evacuated around them during the Israeli military operation in the city of Hebron. JOHN WESSELS - AFP
The Israeli Army said it was carrying out “precise, selective and exhaustive searches” in the neighborhood of origin of the two attackers, who were killed after the attack. According to the same source, the operation could last several days, as is often the case after Palestinian attacks.
Netanyahu, whose political survival is at stake in Tuesday’s elections, said he is preparing an operation of greater magnitude, “like none seen since the Six-Day War” of 1967.
This comes amid growing tension in the West Bank, where radical settlers — who, according to their critics, benefit from the tolerance and even support of the Israeli government — are multiplying increasingly violent incursions against Palestinian residents.
Israeli soldiers patrol near the northern checkpoint of Hebron. JOHN WESSELS - AFP
The Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din counted 672 incidents in the last 26 days, half of them during the Palestinians’ olive harvest, a period traditionally marked by episodes of settler violence.
The latest polls place Netanyahu in a technical tie with his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief and centrist candidate, also opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state but who promised to act against settler violence.
Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli Army is waging a strong offensive after Hamas’s brutal assault of October 7, 2023, Israeli attacks killed at least one person in the capital and wounded several more, according to officials at the local Shifa hospital. More than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by the Army since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas supposedly began in October 2025.
AFP and AP agencies