Nearly 2,000 Palestinians Displaced in Hebron as Israeli Forces Seize Homes After Checkpoint Attack

Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank, had given little attention to Israel's approaching elections. It now finds itself at the center of the campaign, serving as a testing ground for Benjamin Netanyahu's security credentials ahead of Tuesday's vote.

The shift followed a gun attack on Friday at an Israeli military checkpoint, in which two soldiers were killed. Netanyahu and his finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, quickly made televised visits. Their ruling coalition is narrowly trailing with two days of campaigning remaining. They promised swift and sweeping retribution, and the prime minister warned of military operations on a scale the West Bank has not seen in nearly 60 years of occupation.

Within hours, the city of 250,000 people was sealed off. The neighborhood of Farsh al-Hawa, the closest to the attack site, was flattened. By Sunday morning only rubble remained of an industrial area that had held car workshops, a large ceramics plant and other businesses.

While bulldozers worked there, another district a few kilometers away was being emptied. Ein Deir Baha was allegedly home to at least one of the two attackers, both of whom were killed at the scene, and its residents bore the consequences.

Fahed Ahmaro, the imam of the local mosque, was woken around midnight by loudspeakers on patrolling military vehicles ordering homeowners to leave immediately for their own safety. Thirty members of his family lived in the house. He took his frail mother and some of his grandchildren to his daughter's home elsewhere in Hebron. As he headed back to collect belongings, a neighbor called to warn him that the army had blown up the gates of the house. "You don't know what you have until you lose it," Ahmaro said. On Sunday he was shopping at a market for clothes for his grandchildren, unsure how long the exile would last.

The Hebron municipality said 370 families, nearly 2,000 people, were displaced by the army's sweep through Ein Deir Baha. The Israeli army said the residents left voluntarily and that civilians who wished to evacuate were permitted to leave the area temporarily. Ahmaro rejected that account. "Never, never, never. Why should I leave my house?" he said.

Abdul Halim al-Tamimi, 77, said the military arrived at 1.30am and gave his family 10 minutes to leave. He said an intelligence officer warned that if they refused, they would be displaced the way it was done in Gaza. The family stood outside until three military vehicles confronted them and they were forced out, leaving at 3am Saturday. By Sunday morning, their villa was draped in large Israeli flags, ringed by military vehicles and used as an army headquarters.

The army said about 2,000 local people belonged to the Jaba'a clan, from which the gunmen were allegedly drawn, and described it as associated with Hamas. Residents of Ein Deir Baha responded with consternation and derision, saying the clan numbers 150 people at most and has no known reputation for radicalism. Tamimi said his family is from a completely different clan and suggested the operation might serve election publicity.

By Sunday evening, all roads in and out of the city remained closed to cars behind heavy steel barriers, and only pedestrians moved through. Delivery truck driver Wasam Sadi arrived at a checkpoint with a smashed windshield and glass in his eyes, saying settlers had attacked him at a nearby junction. Hebron's mayor, Yousef al-Jabari, called the measures collective punishment and said people had been dragged from their homes and the media kept out of the district. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank cannot vote on Tuesday, but the outcome could deeply affect their lives.