35 Hectares Cleared in Hebron as 1,500 Residents Evicted
Israeli forces demolished the Ein Deir Baha district following a checkpoint attack, days before national elections.
By Marco Kapoor ·
Israeli troops dismantled the Ein Deir Baha district in Hebron, West Bank, displacing approximately 1,500 residents.
The Hebron municipality reported that 35 hectares, equivalent to 86 acres, were destroyed or marked for destruction by Saturday afternoon. The city, which has a population of 250,000, was sealed off with checkpoints on every entry point. Local authorities described the operation as collective punishment for a militant attack on an army checkpoint.
Two gunmen attacked an Israeli military checkpoint outside Hebron on Friday. A 20-minute exchange of gunfire left two Israeli soldiers dead and three wounded. Both gunmen were killed during the incident. The Ein Deir Baha district was identified as the home area of the attackers.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visited the checkpoint site and pledged a swift military response. Netanyahu stated that Israel would act to destroy the location. Smotrich, running with a smaller coalition party, appeared in body armor during the demolitions. He claimed he ordered the immediate demolition of adjacent structures and called for a comprehensive military campaign similar to operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
A municipality spokesperson confirmed that roughly 300 families were evicted. Many residents sought shelter with friends or relatives. The municipality opened community halls and children's play areas to accommodate others. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israel intends to displace an additional 2,500 people.
Videos shared by a local resident showed extensive rubble across several urban blocks. Footage captured soldiers marking houses with black crosses, a bulldozer collapsing a stone wall, and a residential building draped in Israeli flags. Residents identified the flagged building as the property of a prominent Hebron family, which was converted into a temporary military headquarters.
Issa Amro, a civil rights activist in Hebron, criticized the scale of the operation. He stated that the district was being punished for an event it did not support. Amro noted that his sister's family was among those displaced. He expressed uncertainty about whether the action was purely for election propaganda or part of a long-term strategic plan. The Israeli army was contacted for comment on the operations and the visual evidence of the destruction.
