The Israeli army continued a large-scale offensive in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron for a fifth consecutive day on Tuesday, forcing nearly 5,000 Palestinians from their homes.
Hebron municipality said 4,969 Palestinians from 780 families had been forcibly displaced from the Deir Bahha and Al Jilda areas since the campaign began on Friday.
Among those displaced are 336 infants, 441 elderly people, 216 pregnant and nursing women, 44 people with disabilities and 312 people with chronic illnesses, the municipality said, warning of growing humanitarian consequences.
The army has shut entrances to Hebron and surrounding villages since Friday, following a shooting attack that killed two Israeli soldiers.
Anadolu footage showed Palestinians being stopped, searched and mistreated by Israeli forces at military checkpoints near Al Jilda Roundabout. Witnesses said reinforcements arrived in Ein Deir Baha, where troops took over Palestinian buildings and turned them into military posts.
The Palestinian Prisoner Society said the army had arrested 85 Palestinians across Hebron governorate since Friday.
Raids and closures across the West Bank
Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces arrested at least nine Palestinians during raids and closed all main entrances to Ramallah.
In the northern West Bank, troops raided Jenin’s eastern neighbourhood and the towns of Meithalun, Jaba and Qabatiya, arresting at least six Palestinians, according to local sources.
In the central West Bank, Israeli forces closed Ramallah’s main entrances, including the Ein Sinya and Atara checkpoints, the Rawabi gate and the Nabi Saleh and Aboud gates, and set up additional checkpoints on alternative roads.
In Al Bireh, troops turned a Palestinian home into a military post, held four residents inside and confiscated their phones, local sources said.
Farmers were also expelled from their land in Turmus Ayya, while troops raided Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem, with tracked military vehicles.
In Hebron governorate, troops repeatedly raided Taffuh and searched the homes of former prisoners. Israeli forces also assaulted and arrested a Palestinian man and his son in the Hawara area south of Hebron, according to local sources.
Illegal settler attacks and outposts
Separately, Israeli occupiers set fire to three Palestinian vehicles early Tuesday in Umm Safa, west of Ramallah.
Village municipal chief Marwan Sabah told Anadolu that attackers entered around midnight and set the vehicles ablaze. Residents confronted the group, forcing it to withdraw, he said.
Sabah said Umm Safa had repeatedly faced attacks involving assaults, vehicle arson, intimidation and harassment, adding that occupiers had seized large areas of village land.
Israeli occupiers also established a settlement outpost at Al Bireh’s northern entrance, overlooking the Al Balou neighbourhood, the Bedouin rights group Al-Baidar said.
According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, occupiers attempted to establish 21 new settlement outposts across the West Bank in September, including 10 in Ramallah and Al Bireh governorate.
The incidents come amid intensified Israeli army raids and attacks by Israeli occupiers across the occupied West Bank since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.
