About 1,200 Palestinians Displaced in Hebron as Israeli Military Operation Begins After Checkpoint Attack
A Palestinian official said about 1,200 people were forced from homes in Hebron on Saturday, a day after two Israeli soldiers were killed at a checkpoint near the city, as Israel began an operation that includes searches and demolitions.
The Israeli military forced about 1,200 Palestinians to leave their homes in Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, a Palestinian official said, a day after a Palestinian attack killed two Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint near the city.
Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a military checkpoint near Hebron on Friday, the Israeli military said, and the gunmen were shot dead. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that the military would launch a large-scale operation, and the military said the operation in the Al-Jaladah and Ein Deir Baha neighborhoods near the checkpoint was to search for militants and weapons. The military said in a statement that it would also carry out demolitions. The operation followed the attack that prompted Israel to launch a multi-day West Bank operation.
Yousef Zouhair Al-Jabari, the head of Hebron’s municipality, said about 1,300 more people faced losing their homes in addition to the 1,200 already displaced. He said the military had demolished shops, factories, homes and roads in Hebron, and he called the response disproportionate and unjustified. The Palestinian Authority criticised the operation as a “collective punishment.” Al-Jabari also said the operations were motivated by parliamentary elections on Tuesday, when opinion polls show Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition may lose its majority. “Netanyahu and the radical ministers in his government are trying to win as many votes as possible from the settlers,” he said.
Arrests, closures and residents forced from homes
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said Israeli forces arrested about 70 Palestinians on Friday and Saturday, according to Reuters. Israeli officials have not commented on any arrests. Residents told Reuters that they saw Israeli soldiers marking homes with a black X after their Palestinian occupants had been forced to leave, and it was not immediately clear what the X mark meant.
“We are calling on officials to stand by us because we are not involved in any of this. There are children. We are isolated; we don’t do anything. This is all arbitrary,” Majdi Nasser, one of those driven from his home, told Reuters.
Across the West Bank, Israel has blocked the entrances to most Palestinian cities and towns, severely curtailing Palestinians’ freedom of movement, Reuters reported. Yousef Mur, a resident of the Palestinian town of Yatta, said the closures meant he was unable to reach Jerusalem with his daughter for her cancer treatment. “The situation is bad, and we are suffering. When we tried to cross, they fired stun grenades towards us, and my girl got scared on the way,” he said.
Reporting based on coverage by Reuters.
