Israel has forced around 1,200 Palestinians to leave their homes in Hebron in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian official said.

In addition to the forced displacement, around 70 Palestinians were arrested on Friday and Saturday, the non-governmental organisation Palestinian Prisoners' Club said.

The Palestinian Authority criticised the Israeli actions as a "collective punishment", calling for international pressure on Israel to protect Palestinians.

"The growing threats to expand the scope of forced displacement and destruction require urgent international action that goes beyond condemnation to adopt tangible and deterrent measures," the PA’s foreign ministry said in a statement following the events.

Residents in Hebron told Reuters that the Israeli forces expelled several people.

They reported seeing Israeli soldiers marking homes with a black X after their Palestinian occupants had been forced to leave. It was not immediately clear what the X mark meant.

‘An attempt to win votes from illegal settlers’

Yousef Zouhair Al-Jabari, the head of Hebron's municipality, said around 1,300 Palestinians faced losing their homes in addition to the 1,200 already displaced.

He also said the Israeli actions were motivated by parliamentary elections on Tuesday, when Netanyahu's right-wing coalition may lose its majority, opinion polls show.

"Netanyahu and the radical ministers in his government are trying to win as many votes as possible from the settlers," he said.

Amnesty International warned that upcoming elections must not deflect attention from Israel’s international crimes, urging continued scrutiny and accountability.

Netanyahu's government has presided over a rapid expansion of Israeli settlements, deemed illegal by UN bodies and ​most countries.

Across the occupied West Bank, Israel has blocked the entrances to most Palestinian cities and towns, severely curtailing Palestinians' freedom of movement.