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Israel Launches Major West Bank Military Operation After Hebron Attack — AI-generated representative image: Israeli military vehicles at a checkpoint in a West Bank town as residents leave the area.

Editorial Team

Mass arrests, home demolitions and forced displacement follow the Hebron checkpoint attack, drawing war crimes warnings from rights groups.

Israel's military has launched a major operation across the occupied West Bank, planning mass arrests, home demolitions and the forced displacement of residents. The campaign follows an attack on Friday at an Israeli military checkpoint near Hebron in which two Israeli soldiers were killed and the two suspected Palestinian gunmen were shot dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a full lockdown of the West Bank and said forces would go house-to-house in the Hebron neighbourhood where the suspected attackers came from.

The operation marks a sharp escalation in the occupied territory days before Israel's election on Tuesday, with rights groups warning that the planned measures amount to collective punishment and could constitute war crimes. The campaign also unfolds amid signs that Israel and the United States are preparing for a potential new wave of attacks on Iran.

Palestinian officials say more than 40,000 people have already been forcibly displaced from their homes in the West Bank since the beginning of 2025, and the latest operation threatens to deepen that displacement.

What Is Happening in the West Bank

Israel's military announced late on Friday that a major "counterterrorism" operation involving soldiers, police and other security agents was under way in the Hebron area. The military said the "targeted" campaign would last "several days", alongside operations in "dozens" of other areas across the West Bank.

By Saturday morning, Israeli forces had raided at least 15 towns in the northern West Bank, including Nablus, Jenin, Tubas and Qalqilya, arresting dozens of Palestinians.
Israeli bulldozers wrecked a three-storey building in Hebron while ordering hundreds of Palestinian families to leave their homes in the Ein Deir Bahha area.
The Hebron municipality said up to half of the neighbourhood attacked overnight had been forcibly displaced, with at least 200 families forced outside their homes.
Seven district entrances to Hebron were closed, with only one or two allowing some pedestrian traffic at times.

Background and Escalating Violence

The lockdown is a direct response to Friday's checkpoint attack near Hebron, but it also comes just days before Israel's election, during which authorities had already been planning to close the occupied territory. During the lockdown, Netanyahu said troops would conduct "extensive waves of arrests" and pursue Hamas fighters "wherever they are and at all times".

The operation also coincides with signs that Israel and the United States are preparing for a potential new wave of attacks on Iran. According to reports citing unnamed US officials, the two countries have drafted plans for a campaign after the US midterm elections on November 3, with potential targets including Iran's energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities, and missile and drone arsenal. US President Donald Trump appeared to confirm the planning at a rally on Friday, saying, "We may do another little epic fury," referencing the codename of the US-Israel war against Iran that began on February 28.

Escalation Against Palestinians and Official Responses

The Palestinian Authority said in a statement on Saturday that more than 40,000 citizens have been forcibly displaced since the start of 2025 by settler violence and armed raids. It warned that the Hebron operation involves "collective punishment measures" including forced displacement of entire neighbourhoods, demolition of homes, and the closure and siege of Palestinian cities.

Settler attacks have been particularly frequent in recent weeks during the olive harvest season. On Thursday, the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission recorded 409 attacks by Israeli forces or settlers against farmers, their land, olive trees and equipment during October. On October 17, settlers assaulted European diplomats, including a French mayor, near the village of Taybeh, and on Wednesday a US Democratic congressional candidate was briefly detained while helping farmers harvest olives.

What Comes Next

Far-right Israeli officials have cheered the operation, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calling for it to proceed "exactly like in Gaza" and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urging the Palestinian Authority be "dismantled".

The United Nations and human rights groups have criticised the measures. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern that closures would restrict Palestinians' "access to basic services and livelihoods", while B'Tselem warned the plans amount to "collective punishment and acts that could constitute war crimes". Additional information on the operation's duration and scope is awaited.