Israel | Hebron in a state of emergency

An Israeli soldier stands behind election posters attached to concrete protective barriers in Hebron in the West Bank. The posters advertise the right-wing extremist candidate Itamar Ben Gwir, chairman of the “Otzma Jehudit” (“Jewish Strength”) party. It reads in Hebrew: "Bibi needs Ben Gwir to be strong." Photo: IMAGO / UPI Photo As Israel prepares for parliamentary elections on Tuesday, the Israeli army is rampaging in the occupied West Bank. After an attack on Israeli soldiers, the military forced thousands of Palestinians from their homes and destroyed entire neighborhoods. The operation fits into a larger pattern of settler violence, forced relocation and colonial land grabs. On election day, Israel's government wants to completely block access to the Palestinian territory.

The city of Hebron has been under military lockdown since last Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a siege of the city after two armed Palestinians attacked an army post, killing two occupying soldiers. The two attackers also died in the exchange of fire; According to Israeli sources, at least one of them is said to come from the outskirts of Ein Deir Baha in Hebron.

Accordingly, the Israeli army's ongoing aggression against Hebron is perceived as collective punishment. Not only are entrances to Hebron - the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank - blocked, but hundreds of families have been expelled from their homes since Friday and the Ein Deir Baha district has been largely destroyed. According to humanitarian organizations in Hebron, over 2,600 people are affected by the displacement.

Inspired by their fundamentalist ideology, the settlers strive to ethnically cleanse the remaining Palestinian areas.

“The soldiers came to my aunt and her family at 2 a.m. and took them out of the house,” reports Walid Zaytoun* in an interview with “nd”. Although he lives in Germany, he comes from Hebron. »The soldiers marked their house with an X. The problem is that no one knows how long this will last or what will happen in the coming days.

But the closure of Hebron is also part of a larger trend of increasing violence and forced displacement in the West Bank. The UN counted at least 2,895 Palestinians from 69 communities displaced due to settler violence and army orders between January 2023 and mid-July 2025. Shepherd and Bedouin communities are particularly affected. According to the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, at least 1,107 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank between October 2023 and September 2026.

Israel has been illegally occupying the West Bank since 1967 and has been operating a racist apartheid regime and a policy of constant colonial land grabs there ever since. Over the years, a kind of division of labor has developed between armed militant settlers and the regular army. Inspired by their fundamentalist ideology, the settlers strive to ethnically cleanse the remaining Palestinian areas and repeatedly set up outposts and settlements on stolen land.

The Israeli state tolerates these armed gangs and often moves to legalize their settlements as recognized communities. The army's presence ensures this process and makes a normal life increasingly impossible for Palestinians. They are regularly exposed to direct violence and state arbitrariness in Israeli military courts.

The current radical right-wing government of Netanyahu, with the participation of several fascist-Zionist parties, is taking this settlement process to the extreme. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, for example, is openly supporting plans to formally annex the West Bank as Israeli territory and in the process expel the Palestinian population.

An independent investigative commission set up by the UN accused Israel of crimes against humanity in the West Bank in a report published on Monday. Israeli authorities and the Israeli army have committed crimes against humanity such as “extermination, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence” in the Palestinian territory.

Major military operations are not uncommon in the occupied territories and are often ordered in connection with Jewish holidays or, as is currently the case, before upcoming elections. Since October 7, 2023, roadblocks and military posts have increased, especially around the city of Hebron. In recent months, the army has entered cities in the northern West Bank and carried out raids. Walid* describes the situation in Hebron as extremely tense.

"Overall, the situation is bad, and people are very afraid that the same scenario could happen here as in the north, for example in Tulkarem and Nablus." Collective punishment measures have now become a new approach by the Israeli government - with a clear goal: "To create so much pressure and fear among the population that they will leave the entire region."

The current violence in the West Bank cannot be imagined without the upcoming Israeli parliamentary elections. For long-term Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this is once again about political survival; A close neck-and-neck race is emerging with his most promising competitor, Gadi Eisenkot. Netanyahu may have been looking for an opportunity to distinguish himself as a strong man at the top who would take tough action in the occupied territories.

A special feature of the Israeli elections is that local Israeli citizens who live as illegal settlers in the West Bank are also allowed to take part in them, while citizens abroad cannot vote there; a circumstance that suggests that the state is seeking to annex the West Bank in the long term. Right-wing extremist forces in Israel may be taking short-term measures to complete the land seizure.

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