Hebron sealed as 2,000 displaced

Israeli forces sealed off Hebron on Friday night and displaced nearly 2,000 residents over the following 48 hours.

The operation followed a gun attack at a military checkpoint where two soldiers were killed. Both attackers were shot and killed at the scene.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visited the area within hours of the shooting. Their coalition is trailing in polls with two days of campaigning remaining until Tuesday's vote. Netanyahu warned of military operations on a scale not seen in the West Bank in nearly 60 years.

The city of 250,000 was sealed immediately. Bulldozers flattened Farsh al-Hawa, the neighborhood closest to the attack site. By Sunday morning, rubble remained where car workshops and a ceramics plant once stood.

In the district of Ein Deir Baha, the military ordered residents to leave. Fahed Ahmaro, a local imam, described being woken at midnight by loudspeakers on patrolling vehicles. He took his frail mother and grandchildren to a relative's home. When he returned to collect belongings, he found the gates of his house blown up. Ahmaro said he was shopping for clothes on Sunday, unsure how long the exile would last.

Abdul Halim al-Tamimi, 77, said soldiers gave his family 10 minutes to leave at 1.30 a.m. He reported that an intelligence officer threatened displacement similar to that in Gaza if they refused. The family left at 3 a.m. By Sunday, their villa was used as a military headquarters and draped in Israeli flags.

The Hebron municipality stated that 370 families were displaced in the sweep. The Israeli army said residents left voluntarily and that the area is home to the Jaba'a clan, which it described as associated with Hamas. Residents countered that the clan numbers only 150 people and has no known reputation for radicalism. Tamimi said his family belongs to a different clan and suggested the operation served election publicity.

By Sunday evening, all roads in and out of Hebron remained closed to cars behind steel barriers. Only pedestrians could move through the city. Delivery driver Wasam Sadi arrived at a checkpoint with a smashed windshield and glass in his eyes after settlers attacked him at a junction. Mayor Yousef al-Jabari called the measures collective punishment and noted that Palestinians in the West Bank cannot vote on Tuesday, though the outcome will affect their lives.