Israel Intensifies West Bank Expulsions, Displacing Thousands in Hebron to Solidify Control

In the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, over 3,000 Palestinians have been forcibly removed from their homes as the Israeli army escalates a significant military operation. Human rights experts characterize this as a deliberate strategy to permanently displace the Palestinian population. The Israeli army has imposed a city-wide lockdown and detained at least 71 individuals over the past four days, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society. Hebron Governor Khaled Dudin reported that 488 families, totaling 3,171 people, have been displaced across the wider governorate. Hebron Mayor Yousef al-Jabari stated that 3,043 of those displaced are from within Hebron city limits.

Concurrently, the Israeli military is conducting a demolition campaign, destroying residential buildings, factories, and roads. They have also blocked roads, raided homes, and assaulted Palestinians. This crackdown began on Friday following the deaths of two soldiers in a nearby shooting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed an operation of unprecedented scale since the 1967 war, amidst rising tensions across the occupied West Bank, marked by violent pogroms by Israeli settlers and soldiers. Attacks on olive harvesters have become frequent, escalating before Israel’s general election on Tuesday, where Netanyahu is seeking re-election.

Municipal authorities in Hebron indicate that the majority of those forcibly displaced are women, children, and the elderly. Israeli soldiers have reportedly converted dozens of homes belonging to displaced Palestinian families into military barracks and field interrogation centers. Noman Amr, a professor of contemporary history at al-Quds Open University, Dura branch in Hebron, explained that the measures in Hebron go beyond temporary evacuation, encompassing demolition, revenge, collective punishment, and military appropriation of homes. He also noted the psychological warfare, citing displaced residents who heard soldiers say, “You will return to your homes on Judgement Day.” Amr believes the ultimate aim is to “impose a new reality” summarized as “more land, fewer Arabs.”

Israeli officials have explicitly linked the Hebron operation to prior campaigns, with Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz intending to apply the “Jenin camp model” to Hebron. This model involves forced evacuation, home inspections, weapon confiscation, and road bulldozing. Rights groups have drawn parallels between the Hebron operation and tactics used in the “Iron Wall” operation in early 2025 in the Jenin, Nur Shams, and Tulkarem refugee camps, which resulted in at least 102 deaths, over 33,000 displaced, and the destruction of more than half of their residential buildings. Katz previously described the Jenin tactics as “the first lesson from the method of repeated raids in Gaza,” where Israel’s war has caused over 74,000 deaths and widespread devastation. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, reported the Jenin camp was left “nearly uninhabitable.” A UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) report last month warned that the Israeli military’s actions in the three camps “appear to amount to collective punishment and raise concerns of ethnic cleansing.” Displaced Palestinians reported being told by Israeli officers to relocate to Jordan, with assurances that there would be no more refugee camps.

The operation has also involved the systematic destruction of vital infrastructure, aimed at making displacement permanent. Amr stated that targeting infrastructure like water wells is an attack on the existence and stability of Palestinian life. He also detailed the close collaboration between the Israeli army and armed settler groups, describing settlers as having a militia of over 150,000 heavily armed individuals who sometimes wear Israeli army uniforms. While the army empties homes and demolishes them, settlers reportedly continue their attacks on residents and commercial interests.

Administrative land grabs are also occurring, with the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CRRC) reporting the establishment of 220 barriers across Hebron, isolating Palestinian communities and facilitating the expansion of illegal settlements. The CRRC noted this is part of a strategy to control areas between settlements and encircle Palestinian growth. On Sunday, the Israeli army announced restrictions on Palestinian workers entering most West Bank areas and a full closure of crossings on Tuesday, the day of Israel’s parliamentary election. Mayor al-Jabari accused Netanyahu and his government of using the military operation for electoral gain, a sentiment echoed by Amr, who stated, “The Palestinian pays this price as electoral propaganda for the right wing.” Amr further explained that the goal is to “correct the history that allowed Palestinians to stay after the 1967 setback or even after the 1948 Nakba.”