The Israeli military continued a massive military operation in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, displacing hundreds of Palestinians and placing major restrictions on movement in response to a gun attack that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others in Hebron on Friday.
The operation comes as Israel enters the final days before a tense election, which is largely seen as a referendum on current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership and security policies during the past three years of war.
Most Palestinian workers with permits will not be allowed to enter Israeli settlements for work in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and Monday, and crossings into Israel will remain closed until after Israel's elections on Tuesday, the Israeli military said.
The military said it operated in more than 400 different locations over the weekend and arrested 40 Palestinians it claimed were affiliated with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It said the operation is continuing at the same intensity on Sunday.
Thousands of Palestinians displaced from Hebron
The Hebron municipality said the operation displaced more than 2,200 people, including nearly 300 children under the age of 18.
The military said that troops were conducting searches in the area where the gunmen operated, and warned residents to evacuate Deir Bahha, the suspected gunmen's neighbourhood. After Friday's attack, Israel's military said it found weapons in the gunmen's car and that they were likely planning to attack Israeli civilians before being stopped at the checkpoint.
All entrances and exits to the city remained sealed, with the epicentre of the operation in Deir Bahha and another part of the city called Al-Jalda, according to Hebron Mayor Yousef Zuhair Al-Jabari.
"People cannot reach or enter the city, and they cannot leave it. The blockade has affected every aspect of life," Al-Jabari said. He added that the blockade is forcing businesses to close and has also shuttered a mosque.
"The army told us that this area would be closed for 12 days. Now they're saying 12 days, but maybe they'll leave the area after two or three days," said Shadi al-Qawasmi, a Hebron resident who was displaced with his family. "This may be because of the elections or some political matter no one knows except God Almighty."
The operation forced some families to navigate crossings on foot in order to leave Hebron after the roads were closed to traffic. At some military gates, people passed sacks of flour and gas canisters through the gates, while an elderly man pushed his wife in a wheelchair through an opening beside one of them. Another family attempted to navigate the gate to access medical appointments.
Netanyahu vows a strong response as elections loom
Hebron municipal officials said families had been displaced from nearly 500 apartments in Deir Bahha and surrounding neighbourhoods.
Six Israelis have been killed this year in attacks in the West Bank, which is experiencing a surge of violence. During the same period, 112 Palestinians have been killed, including the suspected gunmen, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry.
The attack sparked outrage in Israel, with Netanyahu and three members of his right-wing government giving statements from the site of the attack on Friday afternoon, vowing to respond forcefully. "We warned a few weeks ago about attempts by our enemies to harm us, our citizens and our soldiers ahead of the election," Netanyahu said. "We will act to destroy this place."
Netanyahu is under pressure to demonstrate a strong show of force against Palestinian attackers to bolster his image for Israelis concerned with security.
Roughly 3 million Palestinians and 540,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war. Hebron is one of its most tense cities and the only place where Jewish settlers live in the heart of a densely populated Palestinian area under Israeli military protection.