Palestinians return to destroyed West Bank homes after IDF siege

Standing on the rubble of what was once his family's home, Wael al-Jabaa was stony-faced as he described the events of the past fortnight — and in particular the actions of his son, which prompted the destruction of the property. 

Israeli authorities ordered the demolition in Hebron's west, after 27-year-old Hamouda al-Jabaa and another gunman opened fire on Israeli soldiers at a military checkpoint on October 23. 

The men killed two Israeli soldiers and injured others during the 20-minute shootout before they were shot dead.

Mr al-Jabaa said he would have tried to stop his son, had he known what he was planning.

"It was not easy. It was very difficult for us," he told the ABC.

"I love my son and I don't hate our son — but sometimes I support him and sometimes I don't support him.

"An act like this has caused us a lot of losses. We lived a normal life. Now we have losses."

The shooting triggered an 11-day siege of Hebron, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launching a major military operation in the West Bank's largest city.

"We will act to destroy this place, to change it completely," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the hours after the shooting.

The gunmen's homes were demolished and dozens more buildings destroyed in a show of force from Israeli authorities.

Hundreds of families were also forced from their homes, mostly in the Al-Jalda and Ein Deir Bahha neighbourhoods, as soldiers went from building to building claiming to search for weapons and terrorists.

Wael al-Jabaa was among dozens to be arrested. He was held for 10 days, and had cuts on his wrist from where he said handcuffs were secured too tightly.

He told the ABC he was not allowed access to a toilet for the first three days of his detention.

"I peed on myself when in detention. Why?" he said.

"My son was 27 years old, he was married and had two children — how could I be responsible for his actions?"

He said he did not support acts of violence against Israeli forces, saying they were not worthwhile given the significant power imbalance.

"You cannot resist them, you can't use any other means, you have to be silent and co-exist with them," he said.

The ABC asked the IDF for a response to Mr al-Jabaa's claims of mistreatment, but its response did not address the allegations.

'You have five minutes to leave'

Thousands of Palestinians were permitted to return to their homes this week after Israeli forces withdrew, but many returned to properties that had been damaged, vandalised or robbed.

Among them was the Mujahid family, who returned to their flat to find soldiers had ransacked bedrooms and broke furniture.

"I was the first house in the whole neighbourhood … that the army entered," one member of the household, Abed al-Shakur, told the ABC as the family slowly cleaned their home.

"They knocked on the door and entered here without saying much. They said, 'You have five minutes to leave your house. There is a military operation in the area and you have to leave the house.'

"So we left the house for 10 days. When I came back to my house, as you can see, it was all destroyed."

Abed al-Shakur said he had to buy new mattresses for his two young sons because the old beds had been drenched in urine.

He also said his eight-year-old son, Yamen, had chest pain from the stress of the eviction.

"We took him to the hospital, they did a heart test and did a full examination," Abed said.

"They examined him and said he was in a psychological shock."

Neighbours told the ABC many of the flats had been left with rubbish strewn throughout, including used condoms.

Down the street, tenants were returning to a commercial building that had been taken over by Israeli soldiers.

The complex usually houses doctors' clinics, lawyers and other companies. But during the siege, said one business owner, it became a base for the IDF.

Obaida Mujahid, who owns a camera and production company on the third floor of the building, told the ABC a sniper was stationed on the balcony overlooking the roundabout below.

"[The IDF] destroyed them [homes and businesses]. They had a whole building for them as headquarters to sleep in," he said.

"They were smoking hookah, it was a mess here."

Mr Mujahida also said at least 10 of his cameras and 17 camera lenses had been taken by soldiers, along with computer hard drives.

In response to allegations of vandalism and theft of property in the Al-Jalda neighbourhood, the IDF said: "Troops were given clear guidelines and procedures to preserve residents' property, prevent damage to homes during the operational activity, and leave the area as orderly and clean as possible upon departure.

"The homes were searched to rule out the presence of weapons at the sites; therefore, some doors were breached during operational activity because the apartment owners had left them locked.

"The IDF is not aware of claims regarding property damage; should concrete allegations of damage to property be presented, they will be thoroughly examined." 

It also said it was not aware of allegations relating to the theft of cameras from Obaida Mujahid's company.

Hebron siege 'collective punishment'

Hebron, which is home to more than 200,000 people, is often the site of confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, given the presence of Israeli settlers living in pockets inside the city limits and other large settlements on the outskirts.

The siege was met with condemnation from Palestinian officials and the United Nations, with High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk saying he had "grave concerns of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force".

"Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law," he said in the days after the operation began.

"Threats to empty and erase entire neighbourhoods also raise serious concerns of ethnic cleansing."

Hebron's Governor Khaled Dudin told the ABC the siege had "paralysed" the local economy, which has broader impacts on the rest of the West Bank.

"Two [Palestinians] launched an attack and they punished 600 families," said Governor Dudin.

"This is collective punishment for citizens who have nothing to do with this."

He argued there was a political motive behind it too, given the shooting and subsequent siege occurred just days before last month's Israeli election.

"It was a big competition to get the votes of the settlers, and the only way to get votes of settlers is the mistreatment of the Palestinian people," Mr Dudin said.

"Palestinians always pay the bill of the Israeli election."

The governor believed that the forceful response was the Israeli military carrying out the wishes of the right-wing Netanyahu government, which is propped up by pro-settlement politicians.

National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is a resident of Kiryat Arba, the large Israeli settlement on the eastern edge of Hebron, while finance minister Bezalel Smotrich is also a settler.

Mr Dudin said he hoped a new Israeli government, perhaps led by former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, might not take such punitive measures in future — even though Mr Eisenkot and other challengers to Mr Netanyahu are not promising wholesale change to Israel's policies in the occupied West Bank.

Schools closed, businesses throttled

Even with the IDF withdrawing its troops, most of the roads in and out of Hebron remained closed to traffic or choked due to searches by Israeli forces.

The checkpoint where the shooting took place was among those still shut, although the ABC witnessed the gate being opened by soldiers to allow demolition machinery to move through.

Several buildings around the checkpoint had been destroyed, with locals reluctant to speak to the media about what they had seen due to fear of further reprisals.

But the damage done to the city extends beyond destroyed buildings, said Palestinian human rights activist Issa Amro.

No-one was able to leave or get into the city during the siege, which impacted businesses. Children could not attend school for 12 days and now many Palestinians do not feel safe in their homes, he said.

"The current Israeli government believe in making the Palestinian civilians pay the price, and they want to show that they can do whatever they want to Palestinians as a kind of revenge," he told the ABC.

The ABC asked the IDF how it was lawful to destroy buildings with no connection to the gunmen, but it did not respond specifically to that question.