Hebron Sealed and Homes Seized After Checkpoint Shooting

Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank, was sealed off on Friday evening following a gun attack at an Israeli military checkpoint. Two soldiers were killed in the incident. By Sunday evening, all roads in and out of the city remained closed to cars behind heavy steel barriers, allowing only pedestrians to pass.

The operation followed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who made televised visits to the area. Their ruling coalition is narrowly trailing in polls with two days of campaigning remaining. Netanyahu warned of military operations on a scale the West Bank has not seen in nearly 60 years. The city, home to 250,000 people, became a central test of the prime minister's security credentials.

Fahed Ahmaro, the imam of a local mosque, was woken around midnight by loudspeakers on military vehicles ordering homeowners to leave. Thirty members of his family lived in the house. He took his mother and grandchildren to his daughter's home before returning to collect belongings. A neighbor called to warn him that the army had blown up the gates of the house. Ahmaro said, "You don't know what you have until you lose it."

The Hebron municipality stated that 370 families, or nearly 2,000 people, were displaced by the sweep through the Ein Deir Baha district. The Israeli army said residents left voluntarily and that civilians wishing to evacuate were permitted to leave temporarily. Ahmaro rejected that account, stating, "Never, never, never. Why should I leave my house?"

Abdul Halim al-Tamimi, 77, said the military arrived at 1:30 am and gave his family 10 minutes to leave. He said an intelligence officer warned that refusal would lead to displacement similar to what happened in Gaza. The family left at 3 am. By Sunday morning, their villa was draped in large Israeli flags and used as an army headquarters.

The army stated that about 2,000 local people belonged to the Jaba'a clan, from which the gunmen were allegedly drawn. It described the clan as associated with Hamas. Residents of Ein Deir Baha disputed this, saying the clan numbers no more than 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.

In the Farsh al-Hawa neighborhood, closest to the attack site, an industrial area holding car workshops and a ceramics plant was flattened. By Sunday morning, only rubble remained. Wasam Sadi, a delivery truck driver, arrived at a checkpoint on Sunday with a smashed windshield and glass in his eyes. He said settlers had attacked him at a nearby junction. Mayor Yousef al-Jabari called the measures collective punishment and noted that media had been kept out of the district.