Israel expands expulsions in occupied West Bank as Hebron displacement passes 3,000

HEBRON, occupied West Bank — More than 3,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes in Hebron since Friday, local officials said on Monday, as the Israeli army widened a military operation in the city and the surrounding governorate.

Hebron Governor Khaled Dudin said 488 families, comprising 3,171 people, had been displaced across the governorate. Mayor Yousef al-Jabari told Al Jazeera that 3,043 of them came from within the city limits.

According to municipal authorities in Hebron, most of those displaced are women, children and elderly people. Al Jazeera reported that Israel had imposed a lockdown across the city. The Palestinian Prisoner's Society said at least 71 people had been detained over the past four days.

Demolitions and military use of homes

Al Jazeera reported that the Israeli military was also carrying out demolitions that have destroyed residential buildings, factories and roads. It said soldiers were blocking roads, raiding homes and assaulting Palestinians. These accounts come from Al Jazeera and Palestinian officials. The Israeli military's account of its conduct was not included in the material available.

The outlet also reported that soldiers had converted dozens of homes of displaced families into military barracks and field interrogation centres.

Noman Amr, a professor of contemporary history at al-Quds Open University in Hebron, told Al Jazeera that the evacuations fall into three categories: for demolition, for revenge and collective punishment, and for military use. He said the measures had "surpassed any idea of temporary evacuation or deportation".

The ultimate goal, Amr said, is "to impose a new reality." — Noman Amr, professor of contemporary history, al-Quds Open University

Israeli officials' statements

The operation began on Friday, when two Israeli soldiers were killed in a shooting near Hebron, according to Al Jazeera. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has justified the operation by pledging action "unseen" since the 1967 war.

Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz announced they intended to apply the "Jenin camp model" to Hebron, Al Jazeera reported. It said the model involves forced evacuation of residents, house inspections, weapons confiscation and the bulldozing of roads.

Settler activity

In a separate post on Telegram, Quds News Network said Israeli settlers had seized Palestinian land in the town of Beit Kahel, northwest of Hebron. The claim comes from a social media post and has not been independently confirmed.

Al Jazeera said attacks on olive harvesters had been frequent across the West Bank. It linked the rise in tension to Israel's general election on Tuesday, in which Netanyahu is seeking re-election.

Background

Rights groups have compared the Hebron operation with the "Iron Wall" operation in the Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarem refugee camps in early 2025. According to Al Jazeera, that operation killed at least 102 people, displaced more than 33,000 and destroyed more than half of the camps' residential buildings.

Al Jazeera said Katz had earlier described the tactics used in Jenin as "the first lesson from the method of repeated raids in Gaza". The outlet reported that the war in Gaza, now in its third year, has killed more than 74,000 people. It did not give a source or date for that figure in the material reviewed.

Human rights experts quoted by Al Jazeera describe the Hebron operation as an effort to permanently displace the Palestinian population. Israeli officials have framed it as a response to the killing of the two soldiers.