Hebron woke to upheaval as the Israeli military ordered mass evacuations that, according to Palestinian officials, pushed about 1,200 Palestinians out of their homes in the occupied West Bank, just one day after a shooting attack killed two Israeli soldiers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday the army would launch a large-scale operation following the deaths of the soldiers, who were shot when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a military checkpoint near the city.
The Israeli military said its forces shot the gunmen dead.
It said troops moved into the Al-Jaladah and Ein Deir Baha neighbourhoods near the checkpoint at Hebron’s entrance to search for militants and weapons.
Watch: RTÉ’s Edmund Heaphy reports from Tel Aviv on the upcoming Israeli elections
In a separate statement, the military also said demolitions would be carried out.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the action, describing it as “collective punishment”.
Israeli soldiers take aim from a blocked northern checkpoint in Hebron
Irish man returns home after being detained in West Bank
A 62-year-old Irish man has returned to Ireland after being detained earlier this week in the West Bank.
The Dubliner had been travelling with a group of international volunteers who planned to accompany Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest.
On Thursday, authorities arrested eleven people from Britain, Australia, Italy, Germany, the US and Ireland in the village of Al-bweib, south of Hebron.
They were first held at a police station and later transferred to an immigration centre.
Members of the group said they were visiting Al-bweib and were not engaged in any activism at the time of the arrests.
A Palestinian man detained with the group has since been released.
Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade provided consular assistance to the man from Dublin.
Some 1,300 face losing their homes
Yousef Zouhair Al-Jabari, head of Hebron’s municipality, said a further 1,300 people could be forced from their homes, on top of the 1,200 he said had already been displaced.
He argued the military campaign was being driven by domestic politics ahead of parliamentary elections on Tuesday, with opinion polls showing Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition could lose its majority.
“Netanyahu and the radical ministers in his government are trying to win as many votes as possible from the settlers,” Mr Al-Jabari said.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, a non-governmental organisation, said Israeli forces arrested about 70 Palestinians today and yesterday. Israeli officials have not commented on any arrests.
Mr Al-Jabari said Israeli troops had demolished shops, factories, homes and roads in Hebron, calling the response disproportionate and unjustified.
A Palestinian girl makes her way down a hill after Israeli forces blocked the roads to her house
Residents in Hebron told Reuters they believed many of those expelled had no connection to the attackers.
“We are calling on officials to stand by us because we are not involved in any of this. There are children. We are isolated; we don’t do anything. This is all arbitrary,” said Majdi Nasser, one of those driven from his home.
Witnesses also told Reuters they saw Israeli soldiers marking houses with a black X after Palestinian occupants were ordered to leave. It was not immediately clear what the X mark meant.
During Mr Netanyahu’s time in office, settlement growth has accelerated in the West Bank, settlements that UN bodies and most countries consider illegal, though Israel disputes that view.
Elsewhere across the occupied West Bank, Israel has blocked the entrances to most Palestinian cities and towns, significantly restricting freedom of movement.
Yousef Mur, from the Palestinian town of Yatta, said the closures prevented him from travelling to Jerusalem with his daughter for cancer treatment.
“The situation is bad, and we are suffering. When we tried to cross, they fired stun grenades towards us, and my girl got scared on the way. They fired stun grenades towards people. The situation is very difficult,” Mr Mur said.
