We asked until when, and they said until further notice. We left with the clothes on our backs.” Hours earlier on October 23, two Israeli soldiers had been killed by armed Palestinian men at a checkpoint near the city. Hebron, the occupied West Bank’s largest city, has been under Israeli siege ever since, with restrictions extending across a governorate of about 800,000 Palestinians.
A black X now marks the homes from which families have been forcibly expelled. Soldiers have moved into others, turning them into military outposts. In just over a week, nearly 5,000 Palestinians have been displaced, according to UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, which called the measures collective punishment in violation of international law.
The current operation builds on years of demolitions. From 2009 up until the siege began on October 23, Israeli forces demolished 2,491 buildings and displaced 3,534 Palestinians in the Hebron governorate, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Across Area C and occupied East Jerusalem, the monthly average of demolitions since 2024 has been at least double that of the preceding 15 years.
Many demolitions are linked to Israel’s restrictive permit system. Palestinians struggle to obtain Israeli-issued building permits, leaving structures built without them vulnerable to demolition. In Masafer Yatta, a cluster of 13 communities in the South Hebron Hills, Israeli authorities have demolished about 400 structures in 15 years, displacing 969 Palestinians.
Nearly half were demolished since January 2025.
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