On Sunday, the Israeli occupation army continued its siege of the city of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank for the third day in a row, coinciding with raids on the towns of Al-Samou and Halhul in the city, during which attacks on Palestinians and the injury of 9 people with cases of suffocation, including 6 children.
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The siege comes as part of a military operation launched by the occupation army in Hebron on Friday, following an attack by two Palestinians that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others. The army later killed the perpetrators of the attack.
The operation during the first two days included the forced displacement of hundreds of Palestinians, in addition to the demolition of homes, facilities and shops, the destruction of infrastructure in the city, and the conversion of some homes into military barracks and the raising of Israeli flags on them.
On Saturday evening, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz acknowledged that some 2,000 Palestinians had been forcibly displaced from their homes in Hebron, saying they would not be able to return until what he called the “Hamas infrastructure” in the city was dismantled.
the city is devoid of Hamas infrastructure while observers and Palestinian officials indicated that the target in the city as part of the “retaliatory” operation was civilian homes.
the Israeli army continues to search homes and demolish buildings, in addition to carrying out arrest campaigns in Hebron and its suburbs.
Raids and injuries
The Israeli forces stormed the town of Al-Samou’ south of Hebron after midnight on Saturday-Sunday and raided a number of Palestinian homes.
the forces stormed several neighborhoods in the town, searched homes, broke down doors, vandalized property, assaulted Palestinians, detained them, and interrogated them.
In the town of Halhul, north of Hebron, nine Palestinians, including six children, suffered from suffocation as a result of Israeli forces firing tear gas canisters towards homes during the night, according to the agency.
Wafa reported that the forces stormed the town with a large number of military vehicles, raided and searched homes, amid heavy firing of sound bombs and tear gas.
She added that Palestinian Red Crescent teams treated the injured on the spot.
In southern Hebron, said that on Sunday, Israeli occupation forces targeted Palestinians with tear gas canisters at the Al-Fawwar junction, and obstructed their movement through the area.
Displacement and destruction
The Hebron municipality said on Saturday that Israeli occupation forces destroyed homes and roads in the city, forcing about 1,500 Palestinians from 250 families to flee their homes, and intend to displace another 2,500 later.
She added, in a statement, that the families who were forced to flee live in the areas of Deir Baha and Al-Jalda, which include 500 families.
She explained that the Israeli occupation forces placed markers on the evacuated houses and distributed statements demanding that the remaining families leave their homes without taking their vehicles, as part of their ongoing aggression against the city.
The municipality posted on its Facebook page a video showing the extent of the destruction caused by the Israeli occupation army to facilities, infrastructure and streets in the Farsh al-Hawa area of Hebron.
On Saturday, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates warned against inflammatory Israeli statements threatening to expand forced displacement, evacuate neighborhoods in Hebron, and destroy them.
The Israeli closure of Hebron was accompanied by the increased deployment of Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers, and the closure of the main entrances and roads leading to the city and linking it with its surroundings.
This comes in conjunction with an escalation in Israeli army attacks and settler terrorism against Palestinians in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, since the start of the Israeli genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023.
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