Hebron Evictions: Netanyahu Orders Mass Displacement After Checkpoint Killings

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a full siege of Hebron and the neighboring town of Halhul, declaring that residents of the neighborhoods from which gunmen emerged would be forced to leave. The decision followed the killing of two Israeli soldiers and the wounding of three others near a checkpoint outside the city, an event that triggered what officials described as the largest military operation in the West Bank since 1967. Hebron, the largest Palestinian city in the occupied territory, has approximately 250,000 residents.

The sequence of events began on Friday when two men armed with an assault rifle and a handgun opened fire on soldiers at a temporary checkpoint. According to the Israeli military, the gunmen were driving a vehicle with Israeli license plates. A 20-minute exchange of gunfire ended with both attackers killed. Within hours of the incident, ministers campaigned at the scene ahead of Tuesday’s elections. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted a video showing a bulldozer demolishing a Palestinian home near the site. He stated the action was intended to create deterrence and exact a price, noting no link had been established between the home’s owners and the attackers.

Legal challenges emerged quickly. Mohammed Dahleh, a human rights lawyer, filed an urgent petition on behalf of two factory owners, arguing the demolition violated international and Israeli administrative laws regarding collective punishment. Israel’s high court subsequently issued a temporary order halting the demolitions. Michael Sfard, a prominent Israeli lawyer, called Smotrich’s video a direct admission of collective punishment, a concept he noted has been used to justify such measures since antiquity. Defence Minister Israel Katz promised further mass demolitions and forced displacement, comparing the planned treatment of Hebron to the eviction of nearly 20,000 people from the Jenin refugee camp.

The military stated that plans for the upcoming operation were drawn up but that no specific date had been set, describing it as imminent. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also visited Hebron, demanding the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority and stricter limits on Palestinian movement. The attack coincided with a period of heightened tension; polls suggest the governing far-right coalition may lose its majority in Tuesday’s elections. Since October 2023, more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank, with violence intensifying since the olive harvest began in late September. A dispute also arose when prominent Israelis, including a far-right candidate, shared conspiracy theories linking an AFP photographer who witnessed the shooting to the gunmen, prompting the Foreign Press Association to call the claims dangerous and defamatory.