250,000 Hebron residents face siege after two soldiers killed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a siege on Hebron and the neighboring town of Halhul after gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others near a temporary checkpoint outside the city. The government announced that residents of the neighborhoods where the shooters lived would be forced to leave, accompanied by mass demolitions of homes. This move affects Hebron, the largest Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank, which has a population of approximately 250,000.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted video footage of himself standing before a bulldozer as it dismantled a Palestinian home near the site of the firefight. He stated that the structure, built without permits, was being destroyed to create deterrence and exact a price, noting that no link was claimed between the building's owners and the attackers. Defence Minister Israel Katz promised further forced displacement and compared the treatment of Hebron to the Jenin refugee camp, where nearly 20,000 people have been displaced. Katz said every clan neighborhood from which the terrorists emerged would be evacuated.

Legal challenges emerged quickly against the demolition orders. Mohammed Dahleh, a human rights lawyer, filed an urgent petition with Israel's high court on behalf of two factory owners. The court issued a temporary order halting the demolitions. Dahleh argued that the actions breached international law regarding collective punishment. Michael Sfard, a leading Israeli lawyer, described Smotrich's video as a direct admission that the demolitions constituted collective punishment, a justification used since antiquity.

The Israeli military reported that two men armed with an assault rifle and a handgun carried out the attack. They were driving a car with Israeli number plates and opened fire after being stopped by soldiers. Both gunmen were killed after a 20 minute exchange of gunfire. An AFP photographer witnessed the scene while en route to another assignment. Prominent Israelis, including a candidate for the far-right Amcha Yisrael party, later shared conspiracy theories linking the photographer to the gunmen. The Foreign Press Association called these claims dangerous and defamatory.

The attack occurred one week after settlers severely injured photographer Heidi Levine while she documented olive harvests. Since the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023, more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank. Violence has intensified since the olive harvest began in late September. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir traveled to Hebron on Friday to demand the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu said plans for the largest military operation in the West Bank since 1967 were drawn up, though no date has been set.

Ministers rushed to the scene of the shooting as they campaigned ahead of Tuesday's elections. Polls suggest the governing far-right coalition may lose its majority in that vote. The coalition backs settlers, who have seen a surge in expansion in the West Bank in recent years. The immediate response to the checkpoint shooting marks a sharp escalation in the campaign of collective punishment against the Palestinian population in Hebron.