Arabic version: تعمّق الإغلاق في الخليل مع تصويت الإسرائيليين
According to Al Jazeera, Israeli military operations around Hebron have confined many Palestinians to their homes or neighbourhoods as Israelis go to the polls. The city has been under lockdown since Palestinian gunmen opened fire at an army checkpoint at Hebron’s northern entrance on Friday, killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding three. The suspects were killed.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Hebron’s isolation and said troops would go house to house in the gunmen’s neighbourhood. Residents said soldiers used loudspeakers over the weekend to order people out of al-Jalda and Ein Deir Baha. By Monday, 3,171 Palestinians from 488 families had been forced out, according to Hebron Municipality data cited by Wafa.
Hebron Governor Khaled Dudin said forces had searched more than 500 homes, arrested more than 70 people and divided the city with 128 closed gates and 120 checkpoints. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said displaced people included 127 infants, 81 pregnant women and 26 people with disabilities. Bulldozers also demolished a residential building and several businesses in Farsh al-Hawa.
Restrictions extended beyond Hebron. Residents described sieges affecting homes, villages and communities across the West Bank, while the Israeli army barred Palestinian workers from illegal Israeli settlements on Sunday and Monday and said crossings would close on election day. Israeli NGO B’Tselem said the Hebron operation amounted to “collective punishment and acts that could constitute war crimes”.
Olive harvesting also saw hundreds of reported attacks across nine governorates, including theft, assaults, detentions, expulsions and damage to trees, according to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission and Wafa. In Gaza, the Ministry of Health reported 1,559 Palestinians killed and 5,608 wounded since the October 2025 “ceasefire”, while closures of crossings worsened shortages before some commercial goods and flour began to resume on October 23.
