Nearly 2,000 Palestinians in Hebron have been displaced from their homes. Israeli forces took over properties during a sweeping military operation on Sunday. The actions followed a shooting attack on an Israeli military checkpoint last Friday that left two Israeli soldiers dead.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visited the area immediately after the attack and vowed swift retribution. Netanyahu warned of imminent military operations on a scale the West Bank has not witnessed in nearly 60 years of occupation.
Within hours of the shooting, Israeli forces sealed off the city of 250,000 residents and flattened the industrial neighbourhood of Farsh al-Hawa near the checkpoint. By Sunday morning, the area consisted of rubble where car workshops and a ceramics plant previously operated.
As bulldozers worked in Farsh al-Hawa, security forces systematically emptied the Ein Deir Baha district. The military claimed the area was home to at least one of the two gunmen, both of whom were killed at the scene.
Fahed Ahmaro, an imam from the local mosque, said he was woken at midnight by loudspeakers from patrolling military vehicles ordering residents to evacuate immediately. Ahmaro fled with his frail mother and grandchildren to his daughter’s home elsewhere in the city.
"He told me not to come back, and the army had blown up the gates to the house. I don’t know what they have done to it by now. I heard they destroyed the furniture," Ahmaro said, recounting a call from his neighbour. "You don’t know what you have until you lose it. Now I realise how devastating it is to lose your home."
By midday on Sunday, Ahmaro’s house was being used as a base by Israeli soldiers, with lights on but no sign of life. The Hebron municipality reported that 370 families, totalling nearly 2,000 people, were displaced during the army sweep in Ein Deir Baha.
The Israeli military stated that the displaced population left voluntarily, claiming that civilians wishing to evacuate were permitted to temporarily leave the area. Ahmaro rejected that assertion, asking why he would choose to leave his house.
Abdul Halim al-Tamimi, a 77-year-old resident, said an intelligence officer gave his family 10 minutes to vacate their home at 1.30am on Saturday. "An intelligence officer told me if we didn’t go, they would displace us the same way they have done it in Gaza," Tamimi said. He added that three military vehicles eventually forced them out.
By Sunday morning, the Tamimi family villa was festooned with large Israeli flags, ringed with military vehicles, and converted into an army headquarters. The Israeli military claimed the 2,000 affected residents belonged to the Jaba’a clan, which it alleged was associated with Hamas. Local residents dismissed the claim, stating the clan numbers at most 150 people and has no reputation for radicalism.
Hebron’s mayor, Yousef al-Jabari, condemned the operation as collective punishment. "They have dragged people from their houses, and they have prevented the media from getting into the district to cover up what is happening," Jabari said.
