Israel demolishes homes of Palestinians blamed for attack on soldiers

Troops hold at least 12 Palestinians near demolished homes as nearly 5,000 remain displaced from Hebron neighbourhoods

Smoke rises as the Israeli military demolishes the homes of the two Palestinian gunmen who killed two Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron last week [Hazem Bader/AFP]

Israeli forces have blown up the homes of two Palestinians who killed two Israeli soldiers in Hebron last week. The demolitions came on the eighth day of a military offensive and siege on the southern city in the occupied West Bank.

Troops demolished the homes of brothers Ahmad and Hammouda al-Jaabeh on Friday, after surrounding the buildings since the morning and sealing off the area. The brothers were killed after carrying out an attack on October 23 near the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint, at the western entrance to Hebron, killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding three others.

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Reporting from Hebron, Al Jazeera’s Mohammed al-Atrash said army engineers spent at least nine hours inside the homes rigging explosives before detonating them.

When residents tried to approach the site afterwards, large numbers of troops backed by drones moved in and detained at least 12 Palestinians, he said. “Some of these Palestinians are still being detained up to this moment and we monitored live on air their abuse at the hands of the Israeli occupation army,” al-Atrash said.

Israeli forces have fully emptied the Ein Deir Bahha neighbourhood of its residents, he said. Some homes “have been turned into military barracks” and command centres. Hundreds of families in the neighbouring al-Jalda area remain trapped in their homes.

The Hebron municipality said on Tuesday that 4,969 Palestinians from 780 families had been displaced by the offensive . Al-Atrash said Israeli forces had arrested at least 120 Palestinians since the operation began and interrogated hundreds more. At least 13 businesses near the checkpoint have been demolished.

He said Israeli officials had threatened to speed up demolitions in Area C, the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control, in line with measures approved by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich after the attack.

On Friday, dozens of displaced residents, including women, children and older people, protested near the closed al-Jalda roundabout. They demanded an end to the siege and the right to return home.

Raed Nairat, an academic and expert on Israeli affairs speaking from Nablus, told Al Jazeera that the operation’s message had been clear “from day one”.

“It is effectively collective punishment, with the aim of breaking the Palestinians’ will and making him pay a price he cannot bear, as a result of an act he may not have been consulted about and may not be content with,” he said.

Nairat said the operation was driven by political rather than security aims. “It is as if you have turned Palestinian society back to 20 or 40 years ago in terms of fragmentation and turned the entire West Bank into a military zone ruled and controlled by the Israeli army,” he said.

Hamas described the forced displacement and demolitions in Hebron as part of a systematic campaign targeting the Palestinian presence and called for urgent international action.

Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces detained four Palestinians in raids south of Tulkarem. Soldiers and settlers also attacked or drove off olive harvesters in villages near Bethlehem and Nablus.

Israeli military and settler attacks across the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, have intensified since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.

军队在被拆毁的房屋附近扣押了至少12名巴勒斯坦人，与此同时，近5000名巴勒斯坦人仍然流离失所，居住在希伯伦的各个社区。

以色列军方拆除了上周在被占领的约旦河西岸城市希伯伦杀害两名以色列士兵的两名巴勒斯坦枪手的房屋，浓烟滚滚升起。[Hazem Bader/AFP]

以色列军队炸毁了上周在希伯伦杀害两名以色列士兵的两名巴勒斯坦人的房屋。此次拆迁行动发生在对被占领的约旦河西岸南部城市希伯伦的军事进攻和围困的第八天。

周五，以色列军队摧毁了艾哈迈德·贾贝赫和哈穆达·贾贝赫兄弟的房屋。此前，军队从当天早上开始包围了他们的住所，并封锁了该地区。这对兄弟于10月23日在希伯伦西入口附近的法尔什·哈瓦检查站发动袭击，造成两名以色列士兵死亡，另有三人受伤。

以色列禁止布拉德·兰德在被占领的西岸拘留后出境（共3条，第1条）

列表 2/3：以色列如何封锁希伯伦的 10 个入口，导致 5000 人被迫逃离

清单3（共3条）：英国必须制裁以色列，而不仅仅是其定居者。

半岛电视台记者穆罕默德·阿特拉什从希伯伦报道称，陆军工程师在房屋内安装了至少九个小时的炸药，然后将其引爆。

他说，事后当居民试图靠近现场时，大批部队在无人机的支援下进入，并拘留了至少12名巴勒斯坦人。“直到现在，其中一些巴勒斯坦人仍被拘留，我们通过直播监控了他们遭受以色列占领军虐待的过程，”阿特拉什说。

他说，以色列军队已将艾因代尔巴哈社区的所有居民全部清空。一些房屋“已被改造成军营”和指挥中心。邻近的贾尔达地区仍有数百户家庭被困家中。

希伯伦市政府周二表示，此次军事行动已导致780个家庭的4969名巴勒斯坦人流离失所。阿特拉什称，自行动开始以来，以色列军队已逮捕至少120名巴勒斯坦人，并审问了数百人。检查站附近至少有13家商铺被拆毁。

他说，以色列官员威胁要加快在C区（西岸完全由以色列控制的地区）的拆迁速度，这符合财政部长贝扎莱尔·斯莫特里奇在袭击事件后批准的措施。

周五，数十名流离失所的居民，包括妇女、儿童和老人，在封闭的贾尔达环岛附近举行抗议活动。他们要求结束围困，并要求获得返回家园的权利。

以色列事务学者兼专家拉伊德·奈拉特 (Raed Nairat) 在纳布卢斯接受半岛电视台采访时表示，此次行动的信息“从一开始就很明确”。

他说：“这实际上是一种集体惩罚，目的是摧毁巴勒斯坦人的意志，让他付出他无法承受的代价，而他可能事先并未被征询意见，也可能对此感到不满。”

奈拉特表示，此次行动是出于政治目的而非安全目的。“这就像让巴勒斯坦社会在分裂程度上倒退回20或40年前，并将整个西岸变成由以色列军队统治和控制的军事区，”他说。

哈马斯将希伯伦的强迫流离失所和拆毁行动描述为针对巴勒斯坦人存在的系统性行动的一部分，并呼吁国际社会采取紧急行动。

在被占领的西岸其他地区，以色列军队在图勒凯尔姆以南的突袭中拘留了四名巴勒斯坦人。士兵和定居者还在伯利恒和纳布卢斯附近的村庄袭击或驱逐了橄榄采摘者。

自 2023 年 10 月以色列对加沙发动战争以来，以色列军队和定居者在西岸（包括被占领的东耶路撒冷）的袭击愈演愈烈。