Israel Extends Large West Bank Operation in Hebron Ahead of Tuesday Election

The Israeli military kept up a large-scale operation in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, displacing hundreds of Palestinians and imposing heavy limits on movement. It was launched in response to a Friday gun attack in Hebron that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others.

The operation comes in the last days before an Israeli election on Tuesday, which is widely viewed as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership and his security policies over three years of war.

According to the military, it operated in more than 400 locations over the weekend and arrested 40 Palestinians it said were linked to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It said the operation was continuing at the same intensity on Sunday. Most Palestinian workers holding permits will be barred from entering Israeli settlements in the West Bank for work on Sunday and Monday, and crossings into Israel will stay shut until after the vote.

The Hebron municipality said the operation has displaced more than 2,200 people, nearly 300 of them children under 18. Municipal officials said families were forced out of nearly 500 apartments in the Deir Bahha neighbourhood and surrounding areas. The military said troops were searching the area where the gunmen operated and told residents of Deir Bahha, the suspected attackers' neighbourhood, to leave. After the attack, it said it found weapons in the gunmen's car and that they were likely planning to target Israeli civilians before being stopped at a checkpoint.

Hebron Mayor Yousef Zuhair Al-Jabari said all entrances and exits to the city remained sealed, with the operation centred on Deir Bahha and another area called Al-Jalda. "People cannot reach or enter the city, and they cannot leave it. The blockade has affected every aspect of life," he said, adding that businesses have been forced to close and a mosque has been shuttered.

Shadi al-Qawasmi, a displaced Hebron resident, said the army told residents the area would be closed for 12 days, though he suspected it could end sooner. "This may be because of the elections or some political matter; no one knows except God Almighty," he said.

With roads closed to vehicles, some families had to cross on foot to leave the city. At some military gates, people passed sacks of flour and gas canisters through the barriers, an elderly man pushed his wife in a wheelchair through an opening beside one gate, and another family tried to get through to reach medical appointments.

Friday's attack caused outrage in Israel. Netanyahu and three members of his right-wing government spoke from the site that afternoon and promised a forceful response. "We warned a few weeks ago about attempts by our enemies to harm us, our citizens and our soldiers ahead of the election," Netanyahu said. "We will act to destroy this place." He is under pressure to show strength against Palestinian attackers to shore up his image among security-minded Israelis.

Six Israelis have been killed in West Bank attacks this year amid a surge of violence. Over the same period, 112 Palestinians have been killed, including suspected gunmen, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry.

About three million Palestinians and 540,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war. Hebron is among its most tense cities and the only one where Jewish settlers live in the heart of a densely populated Palestinian area under Israeli military protection.