Israel's Hebron Operation Displaces Over 3,000 Palestinians, Officials Say

More than 3,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes in Hebron city in the occupied West Bank as Israel's military operation there escalates, according to Al Jazeera.

Hebron Governor Khaled Dudin said on Monday that 488 families, comprising 3,171 people, had been displaced across the wider Hebron governorate. Hebron Mayor Yousef al-Jabari told Al Jazeera that 3,043 of those forced from their homes come from within the city limits.

The crackdown began on Friday, after two Israeli soldiers were killed in a shooting near the city. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged an operation in Hebron "unseen" since the 1967 war. On Friday, Israeli military heavy machinery also demolished a building during a raid in the city, according to Reuters.

Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz have announced their intention to apply what they call the "Jenin camp model" to Hebron. The approach involves forced evacuation, inspections of homes, confiscation of weapons and the bulldozing of roads. These are announced plans.

The model takes its name from the early 2025 "Iron Wall" operation in the Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarem refugee camps. That operation killed at least 102 people, displaced more than 33,000 and destroyed over half of the residential buildings in the camps, according to Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera also reported that Israeli soldiers have converted dozens of homes belonging to displaced Palestinian families in Hebron into military barracks and field interrogation centres. The Palestinian Prisoner's Society said Israel had detained at least 71 people in Hebron over the past four days, during a lockdown across the city.

Professor Noman Amr of al-Quds Open University told Al Jazeera that Israel's goal in Hebron is "to impose a new reality," which he summarised as "more land, fewer Arabs."

The United Nations said on 23 October that it was "extremely alarmed" by intensifying violence in the occupied West Bank. On 24 October, as Israeli forces began the days-long operation, Netanyahu said "we will destroy this place."

Demolitions have been a wider feature this year. Haaretz reported that as of 27 September, Israeli authorities had razed 960 Palestinian homes and structures in the West Bank in 2026.

Israel's general election is scheduled for Tuesday, and Netanyahu is seeking re-election.