Israeli Forces Turn Hebron Homes into Military Posts After Residents Are Forced Out
Israeli forces have taken over Palestinian homes in Hebron, a city in the southern West Bank, and turned them into barracks and observation posts after forcing residents to leave, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday, 25 October.
The operation followed an attack on Friday, 23 October. Two armed Palestinian men allegedly attacked an Israeli army reserve base that day, killing two soldiers. Both suspects were also killed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then ordered a full lockdown of the West Bank after the Israeli military repelled an attack, according to Al Jazeera. Israeli forces carried out hundreds of raids in Hebron.
In the Khallat Manna and Dahiyat al-Zaytoun areas of southern Hebron, Israeli forces took over homes to use as barracks, citing sources at the Palestinian news agency Wafa. In other neighbourhoods, residents were forced out of their homes, which were then used as observation posts. By Saturday morning, forces had raided hundreds of homes in the Hebron area and turned dozens of houses into military interrogation sites, as Al Jazeera reported.
The Palestinian Prisoner's Society, a group that focuses on Palestinian detainees, said Israeli forces had detained at least 47 Palestinians across Hebron since Friday. It said 293 families, about 2,200 people, had been forcibly displaced. Among those displaced, the group told Al Jazeera, were 127 infants, 81 pregnant women, 26 people with disabilities, 134 people with chronic illnesses and 265 people over the age of 60.
Separately, Israeli settlers began establishing two new outposts on Palestinian-owned land in Yatta, a town south of Hebron. In the Khallet al-Fara area west of Yatta, settlers pitched a tent and used bulldozers and excavation machinery to level and dig the land, activist Osama Makhamra told Wafa. Another new outpost was set up in the Yatta desert, between az-Zuweidin and Umm Qussa, where settlers pitched tents and began installing water and electricity networks.
Further north, Israeli forces kept roads and entrances closed across the Bethlehem governorate for a third consecutive day on Sunday, affecting several towns and villages. On Saturday, forces shut dirt roads leading to Tuqu and fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades toward Palestinian vehicles on alternative routes near the town.
Reports of Palestinian homes being used as military posts in Hebron have appeared before. In June 2025, Wafa reported that Israeli forces had transformed several Palestinian homes into military outposts in the city.
