Israel Announces Siege and Demolitions in Hebron After Two Soldiers Killed

Israel has begun a campaign of collective punishment against Palestinians in Hebron, after gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others near a checkpoint outside the city.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a siege on Hebron and the neighbouring town of Halhul. He said residents of the gunmen's home neighbourhoods would all be forced out, and he promised mass demolitions of homes. The first demolition started within hours of the attack, as ministers who had been campaigning ahead of Tuesday's elections rushed to the scene of the shooting.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right figure, posted a video of himself in front of a bulldozer as it tore down a Palestinian home near the site of the firefight. He said demolishing the home, which had been built without permits, was meant to "create deterrence and exact a price". No link was claimed between the owners of the building and the attackers.

Shortly after the work began, Israel's high court issued a temporary order halting the demolitions. Human rights lawyer Mohammed Dahleh had filed an urgent petition on behalf of two nearby factory owners, arguing that the demolition breached international law on collective punishment as well as Israeli administrative law. "What we saw today was an attempt to copy the illegal practices used in Gaza, in the heart of the West Bank," Dahleh said.

Michael Sfard, a leading Israeli lawyer, described Smotrich's video as a "direct admission" that the demolitions amounted to collective punishment. He noted that deterrence has been used as a justification for such punishment since antiquity.

Defence Minister Israel Katz promised further mass demolitions and forced displacement, drawing an explicit comparison with Gaza. He said Hebron would be treated like the Jenin refugee camp, where nearly 20,000 people have been forced from their homes. "Every clan neighbourhood in Hebron from which the terrorists emerged today will be evacuated of its residents," Katz said. Hebron is the largest Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank, with about 250,000 residents. Netanyahu said plans were drawn up for the largest military operation in the West Bank since 1967. No date has been set, he said, "but it is on the way".

According to the Israeli military, the attack was carried out by two men armed with an assault rifle and a handgun. They were driving a car with Israeli number plates and opened fire after soldiers stopped them at a temporary checkpoint outside Hebron. Both were killed after a gunfight lasting 20 minutes. An AFP photographer who witnessed the exchange on the way to another assignment saw two Palestinian men with a handgun and an automatic rifle firing at Israeli forces.

Prominent Israelis, including a candidate for the far-right Amcha Yisrael party, then shared groundless conspiracy theories linking the photographer to the gunmen. The Foreign Press Association said it was deeply alarmed and called the claims "dangerous and defamatory". It described the photographer as a longtime professional who documented events in keeping with his duties. The episode came a week after settlers severely injured photographer Heidi Levine while she documented attacks on Palestinians harvesting olives.

Since the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023, the occupied West Bank has seen a surge in settlement expansion and violence against Palestinians, with more than 1,100 killed by Israeli forces or settlers. Attacks have intensified since the olive harvest began in late September. Polls suggest the governing far-right coalition, which backs settlers, may lose its majority on Tuesday. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also travelled to Hebron on Friday, demanding the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority and tighter limits on Palestinians' movement.