Israel admits forcibly displacing 2,000 Palestinians from Hebron in occupied West Bank

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz has acknowledged that Israeli forces forcibly displaced around 2,000 Palestinians from their homes in Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, barring residents from returning until alleged "Hamas infrastructure" is dismantled.

Katz's remarks to public broadcaster KAN coincided with the second day of an intensive military incursion conducted alongside Shin Bet and Border Police units.

The sweep follows a Friday checkpoint attack in which two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinians were killed, and three other soldiers wounded.

The military subsequently cordoned off Hebron and neighbouring Halhul for an assault projected to last several days.

Official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli troops took over evacuated civilian properties in the Khallat Manna and Dahiyat al-Zaytoun districts of southern Hebron to serve as military barracks.

Soldiers also ejected families from homes across other neighbourhoods to establish observation posts, following the forced displacement of hundreds of families amid raids and movement restrictions.

City lockdown

The blockade has paralysed civic life across Hebron. The local education directorate suspended classes on Sunday and Monday, while Hebron University and Al-Quds Open University moved lectures online.

Municipal authorities warned that waste is accumulating inside the city because sealed perimeter entrances prevent rubbish collection teams from reaching external disposal sites.

Near Bethlehem, Israeli forces blocked unpaved bypass routes leading to the town of Tuqu, firing tear gas and stun grenades towards Palestinian vehicles attempting to navigate alternative rough paths amid wider road closures.

The occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, has experienced escalating Israeli military incursions and settler violence since the outbreak of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.

Incursions have involved detentions, residential demolitions, the burning of mosques and vehicles, bulldozing of farmland, restriction of agricultural access, and systematic community displacement alongside illegal settlement expansion.

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Source: TRT