Israeli forces forcibly displaced Palestinian families from their homes in Hebron on Thursday. The latest displacements occurred despite the military declaring a withdrawal from the southern West Bank city on Monday following an eleven-day operation.
Soldiers raided the Abu Sneineh neighborhood in the southern sector of the city. Troops stormed a six-story residential building and compelled the occupants to leave before turning the structure into a military outpost, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.
Resident Kefah Abu Sneineh described the sudden eviction.
"The building houses approximately 50 people, including women, children, patients and elderly people, who were left without shelter," he told reporters.
Israeli troops also forcibly evicted Majed Jaber and his family of ten from their home during a separate raid in the Jaber neighborhood. Soldiers converted this property into a military barracks as well, the news agency reported.
The renewed military activity took place just days before thousands of Israeli settlers were expected to arrive in the city on Saturday. The visitors are coming for the Jewish religious celebration of Chayei Sarah, also known as The Life of Sarah, which commemorates the death of Abraham’s wife.
Military forces have maintained operations in Hebron following an attack on October 23 that left two soldiers shot and killed. More than 4,000 people were displaced from their homes during the eleven-day military siege that followed that shooting, prior to the reported troop withdrawal earlier in the week.
Many residents had returned to their properties only to discover them damaged or demolished.
