West Bank Displacement: 2,000 Residents Evicted From Hebron After Checkpoint Attack

The Hebron municipality reported that 370 families, totaling nearly 2,000 people, were displaced from their homes in the West Bank city following a military sweep. This action occurred within 48 hours of a gun attack at an Israeli checkpoint that killed two soldiers. The displacement concentrated in the district of Ein Deir Baha, where the army alleged one of the attackers lived.

Israeli authorities moved to seize control of the area immediately after the Friday shooting. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visited the site on television to announce a campaign of retribution. Netanyahu warned of military operations on a scale not seen in the West Bank for nearly 60 years. The city of 250,000 residents was sealed off, with heavy steel barriers blocking all roads in and out. Only pedestrians could move through the checkpoints by Sunday evening.

The neighborhood of Farsh al-Hawa, located closest to the attack site, was leveled by bulldozers. By Sunday morning, an industrial zone that contained car workshops, a large ceramics plant, and other businesses was reduced to rubble. Meanwhile, forces in Ein Deir Baha emptied homes. The army stated that about 2,000 local residents belonged to the Jaba'a clan, which it described as associated with Hamas. Residents disputed this figure, claiming the clan numbers no more than 150 people and has no history of radicalism. Abdul Halim al-Tamimi, 77, said his family belongs to a different clan and suggested the operation was designed for election publicity.

Residents described the evictions as abrupt and forceful. Fahed Ahmaro, the imam of the local mosque, was woken around midnight by loudspeakers on military vehicles ordering homeowners to leave immediately. Thirty members of his family lived in the house. He took his elderly mother and some grandchildren to a relative's home. As he returned to collect belongings, he was told the army had blown up his gates. Ahmaro said, "You don't know what you have until you lose it." He was shopping for clothes for his grandchildren on Sunday, unsure how long the exile would last.

Al-Tamimi said military personnel arrived at 1:30 am on Saturday and gave his family 10 minutes to leave. An intelligence officer warned that refusal would result in displacement similar to what occurred in Gaza. The family was forced out at 3 am after three military vehicles confronted them. By Sunday morning, their villa was draped in Israeli flags, surrounded by military vehicles, and used as an army headquarters.

The Israeli army stated that residents left voluntarily and that civilians were permitted to evacuate temporarily. Ahmaro rejected this account. He asked, "Never, never, never. Why should I leave my house?" Hebron Mayor Yousef al-Jabari called the measures collective punishment. He said people were dragged from their homes and that media were kept out of the district. Delivery driver Wasam Sadi reported arriving at a checkpoint with a smashed windshield and glass in his eyes after settlers attacked him at a junction.

The situation places Hebron at the center of Israel's upcoming election. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank cannot vote on Tuesday, but the outcome will affect their daily lives. The ruling coalition is narrowly trailing in polls with two days of campaigning remaining. Netanyahu has used the security crisis to promote his credentials to voters.