West Bankupdated 41m ago2 min read
MapIsraeli Forces Displace Thousands In Hebron After Gunmen Fire On Checkpoint
2 Western Mainstream1 Other1 West Asian1 Western AlternativeMap: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL · Cropped for layout
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Over 3,000 Palestinians displaced from Hebron since Friday after checkpoint attack. UN and rights chief warn Hebron operation risks ethnic cleansing.
DW was read line by line by the Watchdog: 6.0. See the score →
Hebron crackdown displaces thousands
Israeli forces carried out an “aggressive operation” in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron after two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli military checkpoint near Hebron on Friday, killing two soldiers and wounding three others. The UN said the number of Palestinians forced from their homes passed 3,000 on the eve of Israeli elections, as the operation demolished homes and commercial property and deprived residents of the ability to move freely. The UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Türk warned that “Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law,” and he said threats to empty and erase entire neighbourhoods raise serious concerns of ethnic cleansing.
The Hebron municipality said in a statement that 3,189 people had been forced from their homes by the ongoing operation, and it described the operation as displacing residents in the West Bank’s largest city. The Israeli military said its troops entered the Hebron neighborhood of Ein Deir Baha, ordered residents to pack up and leave, and said the operation was expected to last several days and was “focused and limited to the area from which the terrorists operated.”
UN warnings and Israeli pushback
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply alarmed by Israeli actions in the West Bank,” and he warned that “Evictions are unrelenting with Palestinians driven from their lands.” Volker Türk said the sweeping steps taken raise “grave concerns of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force — which must end,” and he called for those displaced to be allowed to return home.
The UN also said declarations by senior Israeli Government officials indicate the measures implemented are punitive in nature and designed to instil fear, and it called that “unacceptable.” The Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected a UN report that accuses Israel of committing war crimes in the West Bank as “propaganda,” and it said the findings were “not a human rights report but a propaganda document detached from reality.”
Elections, displacement, and stakes
The UN said the Hebron operation began after the Friday checkpoint attack, and it warned that the displacement and demolitions were happening as Israeli elections approached on Tuesday. The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said aid partners were supporting local authorities in Hebron to meet the needs of more than 3,000 people evacuated by Israeli forces since Friday. Truthout said Netanyahu ordered a “full lockdown across all of Judea and Samaria,” and it described the Israeli military as destroying the Farsh al-Hawa neighborhood where the checkpoint was located.
Truthout also quoted Hebron’s mayor, Yousef al-Jabari, saying, “We are days, or even hours, away from the Israeli elections,” and he said Netanyahu and radical ministers were trying to win votes from settlers. Al-Manar TV Lebanon said Israeli settlement expansion and the displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are likely to persist regardless of Tuesday’s election outcome, and it quoted Mairav Zonszein saying, “There shouldn’t be any illusions.”