Aaron Boxerman and Fatima AbdulKarim
Tel Aviv: The Israeli military began a sweeping crackdown in the West Bank city of Hebron overnight on Saturday (Sunday AEDT), evicting hundreds of families and demolishing buildings a day after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers in the occupied territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to retaliate for the deadly shooting, which took place just days before a pivotal national election and against a backdrop of intensifying violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu is neck and neck in opinion polls with a bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff and his leading challenger in the first major vote in Israel since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks ignited war in the Gaza Strip.
On Saturday, Israeli forces were searching homes, making arrests and using loudspeakers to tell residents in Hebron’s Deir Baha neighbourhood to leave, said Yousef Jabari, the city’s mayor. At least 2000 Palestinians live in the area, many of whom had already fled, he said.
“This is not only collective punishment; it’s election propaganda,” Jabari said.
Deputy mayor Khaled Fahd Qawasmi said more than 200 Palestinian families were believed to have been displaced since the operation had begun.
The Israeli military said the raid would last for several days in response to Friday’s attack, in which two Palestinians opened fire on Israeli troops near a checkpoint outside of Hebron. The gunmen were killed in a subsequent shootout, the military said.
Israeli military chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a statement that the soldiers had prevented “an even more serious attack”. The military said a large cache of ammunition had been found in a vehicle used by the attackers.
The two shooters have not been officially identified, and it was unclear whether they had acted alone or on behalf of a militant group. Hamas, the Palestinian armed group based in Gaza, praised the attack but stopped short of claiming responsibility for it.
Israeli forces quickly moved to encircle Hebron, the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank, sealing off the city’s main entrances and exits.
The Israeli military said Palestinian civilians would be allowed to leave through designated checkpoints but it did not say whether they would be permitted to return. An Israeli military spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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