Thousands Displaced in Hebron as Israeli Raids Spread Across the West Bank
Israeli forces raided at least 15 areas of the occupied West Bank on Saturday, October 24, 2026, and Hebron's mayor said about 2,200 people had been forced from their homes. The Al Jazeera report quoted Mayor Yousef al-Ja'bari, who spoke of the displacement in Hebron, the largest city in the territory.
The raids followed an attack on October 23 on an Israeli army reserve base. Two Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers, and both gunmen were also killed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then ordered a full lockdown of the West Bank, meaning a complete restriction on movement across the territory.
In Hebron, residents could neither enter nor leave the city on Saturday, according to Mayor al-Ja'bari. Hebron-based activist Issa Amro said all entrances and exits to Hebron governorate, the wider district around the city, had been closed since the morning, placing about 800,000 Palestinians under siege. The Times of Israel reported that Israel's ongoing military operation in Hebron had displaced some 1,500 Palestinians as of Saturday, while France 24 reported that Israeli forces pushed into Hebron and displaced around 250 families.
Across the West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society said Israeli forces arrested about 70 Palestinians. The raids targeted Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Birzeit, occupied East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, among other places.
Al Jazeera reported that Israeli soldiers fired a stun grenade at its journalists near the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint in Hebron while they were filming the bulldozing of homes and vehicles.
The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, called Israel's actions in Hebron and across the territory "collective punishment," a term for penalising a whole population for acts committed by some of its members. It called for international intervention.
The displacement comes amid a longer pattern of movement out of Palestinian communities. The UN's humanitarian office, OCHA, reported on September 25 that demolitions had displaced 147 Palestinians across the West Bank in a single week, more than three times the 2026 weekly average. Its report of October 2 said more than 100 Israeli settlers had damaged properties in Jalud, near Nablus. In July, OCHA had reported that more than 3,200 Palestinians were displaced in 2026 by settler attacks and demolitions.
