The Israeli army has intensified its military measures in residential neighbourhoods of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, deploying reinforcements across the city as its offensive enters a ninth consecutive day on Saturday.
The assault, which began on October 23, has displaced thousands of Palestinians and led to dozens of arrests. Troops have also demolished homes and facilities and destroyed infrastructure.
On Friday evening, the army imposed a military closure on the Ein Dir Baha neighbourhood and carried out raids and detentions targeting a number of young men, eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency.
Witnesses said Israeli military vehicles stormed the area and soldiers announced over loudspeakers that it was a "closed military zone" where presence and movement were banned.
Footage published by local media outlets showed Israeli forces deployed across the neighbourhood and residents being warned against staying in the area.
Other clips shared online, including by Quds News Network, showed soldiers holding a group of Palestinians, forcing them to put their hands on their heads, and leading them away under heavy guard to an unknown location.
In the latest demolitions, local sources and eyewitnesses said the army razed the homes of Hamouda Wael Mohammad al-Jabbah and Ahmad Bassam Mohammad Ashour al-Jabbah in Ein Dir Baha. Israel accused the two men of carrying out a shooting in the Farsh al-Hawa area, west of the city, on October 23.
Illegal settler attacks
The army's operation has coincided with a wave of violence by illegal settlers. Five Palestinians were injured on Friday when settlers attacked a family with sticks, pepper spray and stones as they picked olives in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood in central Hebron, and stole their harvest, according to the Palestinian Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission.
The commission said settlers also burned down an agricultural room and equipment in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron, while farmers were prevented from working in the towns of Dura and al-Shuyukh.
The army launched its offensive after a shooting attack by two Palestinians on October 23 that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others. The army later killed the two attackers.
Since then, the army has sealed off the city and surrounding villages. It has seized homes in the Jalada and Ein Dir Baha neighbourhoods and turned them into military barracks. The early days of the offensive saw forced displacement, the demolition of homes, shops and other structures, the destruction of infrastructure, and Israeli flags raised over homes converted into barracks.
Hebron Municipality said on Tuesday that the offensive had displaced 4,969 Palestinians, representing 780 families.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Society said the army detained 110 Palestinians in the Hebron governorate between Friday and Wednesday.
The siege and closures have also disrupted education in 66 schools, affecting 2,872 students. Some 2,198 of them are under direct siege, while 674 were forcibly displaced and cannot reach their schools.
Displaced Palestinians are demanding an end to the military closure and the lifting of the siege on their neighbourhoods, so they can return home and resume daily life.
