Residents of Hebron in the occupied West Bank were woken in the middle of the night by the Israeli army and ordered to leave their homes with their families, as a large-scale military operation launched on Friday, 23 October, has displaced some 2,000 Palestinians, according to the Israeli defence ministry.
“I never imagined this could happen. Never. Five neighbourhoods are being evacuated,” one resident said. “Before, when we were ordered or asked to leave for a few minutes or a few hours, our houses were searched and then we could return. But today it is our homes and entire neighbourhoods that are being evacuated. It is a very difficult situation.”
Bulldozers and Deserted Streets
In one district, buildings are being demolished by bulldozers while deserted streets are taken over by Israeli military vehicles. The displaced describe leaving with almost nothing.
“There were about 50 soldiers and many military Jeeps in the area. We got ready, but we could only take what we had on us,” one resident said.
Operation Launched After Soldiers Killed
The operation follows an attack by two Palestinian assailants near an Israeli checkpoint in the city on Friday, in which two Israeli soldiers were killed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a large-scale response, saying: “We will evacuate the residents. We will go house by house. We will also seize weapons there. And all the terrorist infrastructure will be dealt with and destroyed.”
Israeli forces say they are carrying out precise, targeted and thorough searches in the neighbourhood where the two Palestinian assailants came from. The operation could last several more days.
Palestinian Authority Seeks International Pressure
The Palestinian Authority called on Saturday for international pressure on Israel. “Faced with the growing threats of population displacement and destruction, urgent international action is needed,” the Palestinian foreign ministry said.
The mass evacuation has raised fresh concerns over the displacement of Palestinian communities in the occupied territory, with residents voicing shock at the scale of the operation and the destruction unfolding in their neighbourhoods.
