Hebron governor says Israeli forces withdraw from city after 10-day siege

Hebron Mayor Youssef al-Jaabari says families forced from their homes can return and students can go back to schools.

Palestinians argue with Israeli army soldiers during a protest of Palestinian residents against their displacement from a neighbourhood, amid ongoing Israeli military operations, in Hebron in the occupied West Bank, October 27, 2026 [File: Mussa Qawasma/Reuters]

The governor of Hebron says Israeli forces have withdrawn from the city in the southern occupied West Bank after a 10-day siege, allowing displaced families to return home.

“Palestinian security forces have taken full control of the area following the Israeli withdrawal,” Governor Khaled Dudin announced on Monday.

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“Relevant authorities and Palestinian security forces are monitoring developments on the ground and working to provide the necessary conditions for residents to return safely,” he said.

The Israeli military imposed a siege on Hebron on October 23 after a shooting attack by two Palestinians that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others. Israeli forces later killed the two attackers.

Hebron Mayor Youssef al-Jaabari told Al Jazeera the municipality was officially informed of the withdrawal at 6am (04:00 GMT).

“For the first time in 10 days, schoolchildren are going to their schools; university students are now on their way to their universities,” he said, adding that five universities had been closed during the siege.

“There was a complete closure, no entry or exit from the city, and all aspects of life, whether economic, educational, health, or even those related to municipal work, had completely stopped.”

Reporting from Hebron, Al Jazeera’s Mohamed al-Atrash, said vehicles carrying displaced families began arriving minutes after the governor’s announcement.

Some returning residents said soldiers had wrecked the interiors of homes used as military posts, while others said money and personal belongings had been taken.

Al-Atrash said the Israeli military destroyed the the homes of the two attackers during its operation. Civil defence teams at the site of one home warned that its walls were on the verge of collapse.

During the operation, Israeli forces imposed closures on the city and surrounding villages, seizing homes and converting them into military posts. Al-Atrash said the siege displaced more than 537 families and forced at least 317 shops to close, while checkpoint closures affected the wider governorate of about 800,000 people.

More than 3,300 Palestinians were displaced or otherwise affected, particularly in Al-Jalda and Ein Deir Baha, while 15 homes and other structures were demolished, according to the Hebron Governorate. It said the siege also damaged the local economy and infrastructure and disrupted education.

Ibrahim Rabaia, a political researcher in Ramallah, told Al Jazeera the operation was “part of the collective-punishment system pursued by Israel”, but marked a shift by targeting entire urban neighbourhoods rather than attackers’ families or refugee camps.

“Israel attempted to establish a new pattern, testing international and local reactions,” he said.

Mohamed Helles, an expert on Israeli affairs, said the operation was launched days before Israel’s general election last month and was partly “an attempt to harvest electoral points at the ballot box” for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing allies.

Netanyahu’s electoral bloc secured the most seats but failed to win a majority in the vote, leaving Israel without a clear path to a new government.

希伯伦市长优素福·贾巴里表示，被迫离开家园的家庭可以返回家园，学生也可以重返学校。

2026年10月27日，在被占领的约旦河西岸希伯伦，巴勒斯坦居民因以色列持续的军事行动而被迫离开家园，巴勒斯坦人与以色列军队士兵发生争执。[图片：Mussa Qawasma/路透社]

希伯伦市长表示，经过 10 天的围困，以色列军队已从被占领的约旦河西岸南部城市希伯伦撤出，流离失所的家庭得以返回家园。

“以色列撤军后，巴勒斯坦安全部队已完全控制该地区，”省长哈立德·杜丁周一宣布。

以色列围困希伯伦进入第十天，造成希伯伦经济损失（共三项，此为第一项，单位：百万美元）。

以色列对房屋的战争（共3项，此为第2项）

以色列拆毁被指控袭击士兵的巴勒斯坦人的房屋（共3条，此为第3条）

他说：“有关当局和巴勒斯坦安全部队正在密切关注当地事态发展，并努力为居民安全返回创造必要条件。”

10月23日，两名巴勒斯坦人发动枪击，造成两名以色列士兵死亡、三人受伤，随后以色列军方对希伯伦实施了围困。以色列军队随后击毙了这两名袭击者。

希伯伦市长优素福·贾巴里告诉半岛电视台，市政当局于早上 6 点（格林尼治标准时间 04:00）正式接到撤军通知。

“10天来，小学生们第一次回到学校；大学生们也开始前往大学，”他说，并补充说，围困期间有五所大学关闭。

“整个城市完全封闭，禁止人员进出，生活的方方面面，无论是经济、教育、医疗，甚至是市政工作，都完全停止了。”

半岛电视台记者穆罕默德·阿特拉什从希伯伦报道说，州长宣布消息后几分钟，载着流离失所家庭的车辆就开始抵达。

一些返回的居民表示，士兵们破坏了用作军事哨所的房屋内部，而另一些居民则表示，他们的钱财和个人物品被拿走了。

阿特拉什称，以色列军方在行动中摧毁了两名袭击者的房屋。其中一处房屋的民防小组警告说，房屋的墙壁已经摇摇欲坠。

行动期间，以色列军队封锁了该市及其周边村庄，没收民宅并将其改造成军事哨所。阿特拉什表示，围困导致超过537个家庭流离失所，至少317家商店被迫关门，而检查站的关闭也影响了约80万人口所在的整个省份。

据希伯伦省政府称，超过3300名巴勒斯坦人流离失所或受到其他影响，尤其是在贾尔达和艾因代尔巴哈地区，另有15栋房屋和其他建筑物被拆毁。该省政府还表示，围困也破坏了当地经济和基础设施，并扰乱了教育。

拉马拉的政治研究员易卜拉欣·拉巴亚告诉半岛电视台，这次行动是“以色列推行的集体惩罚制度的一部分”，但标志着一种转变，即以整个城市街区为目标，而不是袭击者的家人或难民营。

他说：“以色列试图建立一种新的模式，以此来测试国际社会和当地的反应。”

以色列事务专家穆罕默德·赫勒斯表示，此次行动在以色列上个月大选前几天发起，部分原因是“试图为总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡及其右翼盟友在投票箱中获取选举积分”。

内塔尼亚胡的选举联盟获得了最多的席位，但未能赢得多数席位，导致以色列组建新政府的道路仍然不明朗。