Israeli forces demolish homes in Hebron, displacing hundreds of Palestinian families

The Israeli military has launched a large-scale operation in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, demolishing homes and businesses. Local officials say hundreds of Palestinian families have been displaced. Footage shared online shows bulldozers destroying buildings, with at least one whole street appearing to have been flattened. The army has also cordoned off the city, severely restricting the movement of its roughly 200,000 residents.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the operation on Friday in response to an attack on a checkpoint, in which two Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others. Both gunmen were also killed. Netanyahu said buildings near the site of the attack and the neighbourhoods the gunmen came from would be "destroyed".

Figures from local officials

Hebron's Mayor Youssef al-Jaabari said more than 1,000 people had been displaced. The operation centred on the Ein Deir Baha and Farsh al-Hawa neighbourhoods and targeted homes, businesses, industrial sites and infrastructure. He said dozens of families had been forced to spend the night outside, some were told to leave without their vehicles, and homes slated for demolition were marked with spray paint. The mayor believes the military plans to displace 2,500 people in total from about 0.35 sq km of urban land. The city's governor and deputy mayor said at least 200 families had been displaced.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment. In a social media statement, it said it had dozens of targets across the West Bank and that operations would last several days.

Background

Israeli forces commonly demolish the homes of Palestinians suspected of attacking Israelis, a practice Israeli rights groups have criticised as collective punishment. Netanyahu compared the operation to earlier ones in Palestinian refugee camps in the north of the territory, where hundreds of homes were demolished and tens of thousands of people displaced in 2025.

The attack came four days before Israel's general election. Netanyahu, whose campaign is built on a promise of security, cancelled his party's Friday campaign events and went to Hebron. He also said he had reviewed plans for the largest military operation in the West Bank since 1967, without saying when it might happen. It is unclear whether the Hebron operation is part of it. The Palestinian Authority called for urgent international action going beyond condemnation. The mayor said the operation was "driven by the elections" and that Netanyahu and his ministers were trying to win the votes of the far right and settlers.