Hebron Mayor: City Sealed, 490 Homes Demolished After Checkpoint Shooting

Israeli forces shut every road into Hebron and emptied hundreds of homes in the occupied West Bank city on Saturday, a day after a shooting at a checkpoint left two soldiers dead. Mayor Yousef Jaabari said the closures began Friday and that roughly 2,200 Palestinians were forced from their addresses in Deir Bahala, al-Jalda and nearby neighbourhoods. "Hebron is now a disaster zone. The occupation has closed all entrances to the city. No one can enter or leave," he said.

Jaabari called the operation collective punishment. The area affected covers about 330 dunams and includes more than 490 housing units, he said. Families received five minutes to leave before soldiers moved in, residents told Middle East Eye. Palestinian truck drivers gathered at factories to haul out goods and equipment before demolition crews arrived, footage posted to social media showed. The Palestinian Information Centre reported that at least 40 Palestinians were detained Saturday evening and that businesses and residential buildings were demolished as part of the crackdown.

Two suspected Palestinians fired on troops at the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint, west of Hebron, early Friday, according to an account of the incident. Two soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in the exchange.

The municipality opened a crisis hotline and began finding shelter for people displaced from their homes. "We are now monitoring every detail and have declared a state of emergency to meet their needs," Jaabari said. The Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs said Israeli forces also shut the Ibrahimi Mosque after Friday's shooting and removed its staff and custodians. Jaabari said prayers are not being held there and that the call to prayer has been banned.

The mosque is a UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Site and a place holy to Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Palestinians have administered it and used it as a mosque for more than 1,400 years. In recent months, Israel has restricted access for Muslim worshippers, limited the call to prayer and facilitated settler incursions at the site.

Jaabari questioned why the measures came when they did. He accused far-right members of the Israeli government of trying to "use Hebron and its Ibrahimi Mosque, its residents and their homes, as free election publicity for certain ministers contesting elections in the coming days".

Hebron has been sealed since Friday. No one has been able to enter or leave the city.