Israeli Operations Intensify in Hebron as Elections Approach
Israeli forces have sealed off parts of Hebron and displaced thousands of Palestinians following a shooting incident, while the country prepares for national elections.
Israeli troops have placed the city of Hebron under a lockdown after two Palestinian gunmen attacked an army checkpoint on Friday, killing two soldiers and wounding three. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the area to be isolated and said soldiers would conduct house-to-house searches in the neighbourhood where the attackers lived. > "We will act to destroy this place, to change it completely," Netanyahu said.
During the weekend, residents of the al-Jalda and Ein Deir Baha neighbourhoods were instructed to leave by loudspeaker. By Monday, Hebron officials reported that 3,171 Palestinians from 488 families had been forced to relocate, with more than 500 homes searched and over 70 arrests made. Governor Khaled Dudin said the city was surrounded by 128 closed gates and 120 checkpoints.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said the displaced include 127 infants, 81 pregnant women and 26 people with disabilities, and that at least 47 people have been detained since Friday. Bulldozers demolished a three-apartment building, a tile and ceramics factory and an auto-parts shop, actions the Israeli media attributed to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Human-rights organization B’Tselem warned that the operation could constitute collective punishment. Similar restrictions have been reported in other West Bank locations, including a three-week siege of a family in Wadi al-Rakheem, a demolition order for a 1954 house in Umm Safa, and a two-week closure of the village of Madama.
In the broader West Bank, settlers have been accused of numerous attacks on the olive harvest, including theft of olives and equipment, assaults on pickers, and the destruction of trees. The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission documented 482 incidents across nine governorates in the week leading up to the elections.
In Gaza, the health ministry said at least 37 Palestinians were killed in the past week, bringing the death toll since the October 2025 ceasefire to 1,559. Food shortages persisted as flour supplies ran low, though commercial goods were expected to resume arriving later in the week.
The Israeli election campaign continues amid these security measures, with reports that the Likud party may challenge results from Arab polling stations before voting concludes.