Israel widens West Bank crackdown, displacing Hebron families after attack

Israel said on Sunday all land crossings with the West Bank will be closed on the day of next week’s election, as it pledged a harder line on militancy after Palestinian gunmen killed two soldiers in the territory.

The announcement came a day after Israeli forces pushed into the occupied West Bank city of Hebron and displaced around 2,000 residents, with Defence Minister Israel Katz saying, “they will not be allowed to return … until we’ve finished dealing with all the Hamas issues in Hebron”.

Hamas, while not claiming credit, hailed Friday’s killings at a checkpoint near the Palestinian city, in which attackers shot dead two Israeli soldiers and wounded three more.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to exact a heavy price for the attack just days before the polls and said he was planning an operation on a scale not seen since Israel first occupied the West Bank in 1967.

The Israeli army said that, from Sunday, Palestinians would “not be permitted to enter Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley for work”, using terms many in Israel use to refer to the West Bank.

The army also said it would enforce “a ban on the entry and exit of Palestinian workers throughout Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, including industrial zones, as well as the closure of all land crossings throughout election day” on October 27, it added.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister Netanyahu is facing a tight race for a new term in Tuesday’s polls, with his security-first reputation all but shattered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack.

The Palestinian Authority, the semi-autonomous body that governs parts of the West Bank in cooperation with Israel, called for international pressure on Israel to protect residents affected by the military operation.

The Israeli army said that over Friday and Saturday, it operated in 40 areas throughout the territory, with locals reporting that soldiers announced evacuations over loudspeakers late at night.

Israeli forces said they “apprehended approximately 40 suspects, including terrorists affiliated with the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organisations”.

In the Hebron neighbourhood of Ein Deir Baha, nestled between two hills, vacated buildings were marked by X’s and the streets were deserted, save a pair of Israeli military vehicles.

Israeli flags were draped on a house on the slope apparently taken over by troops.

Higazi Shawer al-Tamimi, 70, a shopkeeper who plays a leadership role in the neighbourhood, said he was awakened at 1am by soldiers and a senior officer who said he had to leave.

“I asked them how long the evacuation would last. They said: ‘Until further notice.’”

He said he had only a short time to pack, adding that for some residents, getting out of the neighbourhood was an ordeal.

“For example, my wife’s mother, who is 90 years old and lives in the area, had to be carried out because she is ill,” he said.

Right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a position in the defence ministry overseeing civilian affairs in the West Bank, said he personally ordered “the immediate demolition of a row of illegal structures” following Friday’s shooting.

“Anyone who messes with us will quickly understand that he will pay a painful price,” he said in a social media post.

To Tamimi, the West Bank operation is only happening because Netanyahu wants to win the election on “the blood of the Palestinian people”.

He said people were not going anywhere. “I have lived through all the stages of the occupation, and I will die here.”

But Tamimi’s brother, Khaled Shawer al-Tamimi, 68, said he and his son left after the evacuation order rang out.

“The army was announcing through loudspeakers: ‘Leave the area.’ So we left.”

He said he was surprised to hear Friday’s assailants came from the neighbourhood, which he described as middle-class and law-abiding.

“We have never seen or even heard a single gunshot being fired,” he said from his son’s sitting room as children flitted about.

The Israeli military said the operation would last several days, but Netanyahu suggested bigger action was coming.