Netanyahu Orders Hebron Sealed After Checkpoint Attack

Israeli military vehicles blocked all road exits from Hebron on Sunday evening, leaving only pedestrians to cross the city. Steel barriers stood at every checkpoint, and delivery trucks sat idle while residents walked past troops. The closure marked the latest escalation in a campaign that has turned the West Bank's largest city into a central arena for the upcoming Tuesday election.

The surge in activity followed a gun attack at a military checkpoint on Friday. Two Israeli soldiers died in the shooting. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visited the scene on television. Their coalition currently trails in the polls with two days of campaigning remaining. The leaders promised retribution. Netanyahu warned of military operations on a scale not seen in the West Bank in nearly 60 years.

Within hours of the attack, the city of 250,000 people was sealed off. Soldiers bulldozed the Farsh al-Hawa neighborhood, which sat closest to the attack site. By Sunday morning, the industrial zone contained only rubble. Car workshops and a large ceramics plant had been flattened. In a separate district called Ein Deir Baha, residents faced forced evacuations. The army claimed at least one of the two attackers, who were killed at the scene, came from this area.

Fahed Ahmaro, the imam of a local mosque, described the chaos in his neighborhood. Military vehicles with loudspeakers ordered homeowners to leave immediately around midnight. Ahmaro, whose house held thirty family members, took his mother and grandchildren to a relative's home. When he returned for belongings, a neighbor warned that soldiers had blown up the gate. Ahmaro said he was unsure how long the displacement would last. He spent Sunday at a market buying clothes for his grandchildren.

The Hebron municipality reported that 370 families, or nearly 2,000 people, were displaced from Ein Deir Baha. The Israeli army stated that residents left voluntarily. It said civilians were permitted to evacuate temporarily. Ahmaro rejected that version of events. He asked why he should leave his house. Abdul Halim al-Tamimi, 77, said soldiers arrived at 1:30 a.m. and gave his family ten minutes to pack. An intelligence officer warned them of a Gaza-style displacement if they refused. The family left at 3 a.m. By Sunday morning, Israeli flags draped their villa, which served as an army headquarters.

The army linked the operation to the Jaba'a clan, which it said contained about 2,000 local residents. Officials described the group as associated with Hamas. Residents of Ein Deir Baha pushed back. They said the clan numbered at most 150 people and had no known reputation for radicalism. Tamimi, whose family belongs to a different clan, suggested the operation served as election publicity.

Yousef al-Jabari, the mayor of Hebron, called the measures collective punishment. He said people were dragged from their homes and media were kept out of the district. Wasam Sadi, a delivery truck driver, arrived at a checkpoint with a smashed windshield. He said settlers attacked him at a nearby junction. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank cannot vote on Tuesday. The outcome of the vote could affect their daily lives.