1,500 residents displaced in 35-hectare Hebron demolition

Israeli military operations in Hebron have left approximately 1,500 residents without homes.

The Hebron municipality reported that 35 hectares of the Ein Deir Baha district were destroyed or marked for destruction by Saturday afternoon. The city of 250,000 was sealed off, with checkpoints established at every point of entry. A municipality spokesperson stated that roughly 300 families were evicted, and the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israel plans to displace a further 2,500 people. Community halls and children's play areas have been opened to house those who lost their homes.

The operation followed a Friday attack on an Israeli military checkpoint outside Hebron by two gunmen. After a 20 minute gunfight, two Israeli soldiers were killed and three were wounded. Both gunmen were killed during the engagement. Officials alleged that Ein Deir Baha was the home district of the attackers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visited the checkpoint site and promised a fierce response. Netanyahu said Israel would act to destroy the area. Smotrich was filmed in body armour in front of a demolishing building and ordered the immediate removal of illegal structures adjacent to the attack site.

Residents shared videos showing extensive devastation in the affected blocks. One clip depicted soldiers spraying black crosses on houses. Another showed a bulldozer removing a stone wall on a hillside. A third video captured a large residential building draped in Israeli flags. Residents identified the building as belonging to a prominent local family, which was taken over as a temporary military headquarters.

Issa Amro, a civil rights activist in Hebron, said the operation punished the community for an event it neither committed nor supported. He noted that his sister's family was among those driven from their homes. Amro questioned whether the destruction was a long term plan or political material for the upcoming elections, noting that hundreds of families had no connection to the attack.

Israeli elections are scheduled for four days from now. The Israeli army was approached for comment on the operations and the visual evidence of the destruction.