Netanyahu orders siege and evictions for 250,000 Hebron residents

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a siege on the West Bank city of Hebron and the neighboring town of Halhul on Friday. This move followed an incident in which two gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers and injured three others near a checkpoint outside the city. Netanyahu stated that all residents of the neighborhoods where the attackers lived would be forced to leave. He also promised mass demolitions of homes in those areas.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right figure, appeared in a video posted shortly after the attack. He stood in front of a bulldozer as it tore down a Palestinian home near the site of the firefight. Smotrich described the home as built without permits and said the demolition was intended to create deterrence and exact a price. No link was claimed between the building's owners and the gunmen who carried out the shooting.

The Israeli military reported that the attack was executed by two men armed with an assault rifle and a handgun. They were driving a vehicle with Israeli number plates and opened fire after soldiers stopped them at a temporary checkpoint. A gunfight lasted 20 minutes before both attackers were killed. An AFP photographer witnessed the exchange and described seeing two Palestinian men firing automatic and hand-held weapons at Israeli forces.

Defense Minister Israel Katz pledged further mass demolitions and forced displacement. He compared the planned treatment of Hebron to the Jenin refugee camp, where nearly 20,000 people have been displaced. Katz stated that every clan neighborhood from which the terrorists emerged would be evacuated of its residents. Netanyahu added that plans were being drawn up for the largest military operation in the West Bank since 1967, though no date had been set.

Legal challenges to the orders began immediately. Human rights lawyer Mohammed Dahleh filed an urgent petition with Israel's high court on behalf of two nearby factory owners. He argued that the demolitions breached international law regarding collective punishment and Israeli administrative law. The court issued a temporary order halting the demolitions shortly after work began. Dahleh described the actions as an attempt to copy illegal practices used in Gaza within the West Bank.

Michael Sfard, a leading Israeli lawyer, characterized Smotrich's video as a direct admission that the demolitions amounted to collective punishment. He noted that deterrence has historically been used to justify such measures. The episode occurred one week after settlers severely injured photographer Heidi Levine while she documented attacks on Palestinians harvesting olives.

The siege affects approximately 250,000 residents in Hebron, the largest Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir traveled to the city on Friday to demand the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority and tighter limits on Palestinian movement. Polls suggest the governing far-right coalition may lose its majority in elections scheduled for Tuesday.