2,000 Residents Displaced as Hebron Sealed After Checkpoint Killings

The largest city in the West Bank became a central stage for the upcoming election campaign after a Friday gun attack at a military checkpoint. Two Israeli soldiers died in the shooting, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to visit the site on television. Their coalition trails narrowly with two days of campaigning left, and they promised swift retribution on a scale not seen in nearly 60 years of occupation.

Within hours of the attack, Israeli forces sealed off Hebron, a city of 250,000. The Farsh al-Hawa neighborhood, closest to the checkpoint, was flattened. By Sunday morning, rubble remained of an industrial area that previously housed car workshops and a large ceramics plant. Meanwhile, bulldozers cleared the site while military forces moved into another district a few kilometers away.

The evacuation focused on Ein Deir Baha, a district allegedly linked to one of the two attackers who were killed at the scene. The Hebron municipality reported that 370 families, totaling nearly 2,000 people, were displaced by the operation. The Israeli army stated that residents left voluntarily and that civilians were permitted to evacuate temporarily. Fahed Ahmaro, the imam of the local mosque, rejected that account, noting that loudspeakers on patrolling vehicles ordered homeowners to leave immediately around midnight.

Ahmaro moved his frail mother and some grandchildren to his daughter's home before returning to collect belongings. A neighbor warned him that the army had blown up the gates of his house. "You don't know what you have until you lose it," Ahmaro said. On Sunday, he shopped for clothes for his grandchildren while unsure how long the displacement would last. Abdul Halim al-Tamimi, 77, said military personnel arrived at his home at 1:30 a.m. and gave his family 10 minutes to depart.

Al-Tamimi reported that an intelligence officer warned his family they would be displaced in the manner of Gaza if they refused. Three military vehicles confronted the family outside, and they were forced to leave at 3:00 a.m. By Sunday morning, their villa was draped in Israeli flags and ringed by military vehicles, serving as an army headquarters. The army said about 2,000 locals belonged to the Jaba'a clan, which it described as associated with Hamas, though residents argued the clan numbers at most 150 people and lacks a radical reputation.

By Sunday evening, all roads in and out of Hebron remained closed to cars behind heavy steel barriers, allowing only pedestrians to pass. Delivery driver Wasam Sadi arrived at a checkpoint with a smashed windshield after settlers attacked him at a nearby junction. Mayor Yousef al-Jabari labeled the measures collective punishment, noting that media were kept out of the district. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank cannot vote on Tuesday, but the election outcome will affect their daily lives.

The military operation has intensified the political stakes in the region. Netanyahu and Smotrich have framed the response as a test of their security leadership. The physical sealing of the city and the seizure of homes have turned a local incident into a national campaign issue. Residents face continued restrictions on movement and access to their properties. The army maintains control over the evacuated districts. The election vote takes place on Tuesday.