Full Blockade on the West Bank: 2,200 Palestinians Driven From Homes in Hebron, Raids in 15 Areas

The Israeli military is carrying out extensive raids across the occupied West Bank under a blockade. In the city of Hebron, at least 2,000 Palestinians have been evicted from their homes. After two Israeli soldiers were killed, the country's forces intensified operations across the West Bank, and the Palestinian Authority has called for international pressure on Israel to ensure the safety of Hebron's residents.

Local residents complain that Israeli soldiers ordered them over loudspeakers late at night to leave their homes. As a result, they had no time to prepare. They also had very few places to go — the sudden order spread panic across the city.

Hebron's mayor, Yusuf al-Jabari, said 2,200 people had been forced to leave their homes because of the Israeli soldiers' raids and searches. Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz later confirmed that about 2,000 people had been displaced. In an interview with the public broadcaster Kan, he said: 'They will not be allowed to return to their area until all Hamas-related problems in Hebron are solved.'

The sequence began last Friday. That day, two Palestinian gunmen attacked an Israeli army reserve base. Two Israeli soldiers were killed, and the two Palestinian attackers were also killed. Since that incident, Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of raids in the West Bank, and after the attack Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a 'full blockade' of the occupied West Bank.

Mayor al-Jabari said Hebron's residents can neither enter the city nor leave it. Meanwhile, near the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint in Hebron, Israeli soldiers threw sound grenades at journalists — at the time, the journalists were filming the forces' operation and homes and vehicles being demolished with bulldozers in the area.

Last Saturday, the Israeli military raided at least 15 areas of the occupied West Bank. The targeted areas included Jenin and Nablus in the north, Ramallah, al-Bireh, Birzeit and occupied East Jerusalem in the centre, and Bethlehem in the south.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Society, about 70 Palestinians were arrested in these raids. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that two people were injured in raids on several towns in the Jenin governorate on Saturday evening; local sources told Wafa that two more were injured in separate incidents in the southeast and east of Jenin.

Early on Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said nine people suffering from tear gas inhalation in the Halhul area north of Hebron had been treated, six of them children.

In a statement early on Sunday, the Israeli military said Palestinian workers would not be allowed to enter most areas of the West Bank from Sunday to Monday. On Tuesday, the day of Israel's election, all crossing points for entering and leaving the West Bank will be kept completely closed.

The Palestinian Authority has described Israel's steps as 'collective punishment'. Citing the demolition of homes, the forced eviction of entire neighbourhoods and the blockade of Palestinian cities halting movement, it has called on the international community to intervene. Hamas said in a statement that these raids and escalatory steps by the occupying forces and settlers will only breed more anger.

About 200,000 Palestinians live in the city of Hebron, and about 600,000 more live across the Hebron governorate — the largest governorate in the West Bank by population. Hebron-based Palestinian rights activist and political analyst Issa Amro said about 800,000 Palestinians in the Hebron governorate are now under blockade, all entry and exit routes have been closed since morning, and panic prevails across the whole city.

Israel's upcoming politics are also tied to this. Israel's parliamentary election is on 27 October. Al Jazeera's West Bank correspondent Nur Odeh commented that Israeli politicians are trying to use the Palestinian attack for their own political benefit — opinion polls show Netanyahu, his Likud party and the partners of the ruling right-wing coalition lagging behind. Asked just days before the vote whether he planned to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, Netanyahu did not answer directly, saying instead that a 'big surprise' awaits the Palestinian Authority.