Israeli forces demolish Hebron home amid intensified West Bank crackdown

Israeli bulldozers demolished the home of 49-year-old Palestinian businessman Riyad Mureish in Hebron on Friday, after soldiers gave his family only minutes to gather personal items and identification documents. Mureish, who said he had invested his life savings in the property, told NBC News that a court decree should have prevented the demolition, but soldiers proceeded despite his pleas. > "They demolished and took me out by force," he said.

The demolition occurred as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wearing a military-style vest, addressed the media in another part of Hebron and announced plans to intensify operations across the occupied West Bank. Following a recent shooting attack that killed two Israeli soldiers and two gunmen, Netanyahu said the military would enter neighborhoods from which attackers originated, evacuate residents and conduct house-to-house searches.

Hebron’s mayor, Yousef al-Jabari, said Israeli forces have sealed off all city entrances, closed a key mosque and forced residents from several neighborhoods, effectively besieging the densely populated area. Human-rights organization B’Tselem reported that about 240 Palestinian families were displaced from the Jildah and ‘Ein Deir Bahah neighborhoods on Friday and Saturday, noting that soldiers have taken over homes and raised Israeli flags on several buildings.

The United Nations highlighted the impact of the closures on Palestinians’ freedom of movement and access to basic services, while the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights described the lockdown as part of a pattern of measures that increasingly restrict daily life for Palestinians.

Analysts noted that the timing of the crackdown coincides with the upcoming election, though they cautioned that policy shifts in the West Bank may not be directly tied to electoral outcomes.