Israel’s army will impose a full lockdown on the occupied West Bank during Tuesday’s parliamentary elections, closing all land crossings for Palestinians and barring their access to Israeli settlements and industrial zones.
The measure follows a deadly attack on Friday near Hebron in which two Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others before being shot dead. In response, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in Hebron, displacing around 2,000 Palestinians from their homes, according to Defence Minister Israel Katz .
Katz told Israeli broadcaster Kan that selected army units were conducting operations in Hebron and that displaced residents would not be allowed to return “until we resolve all problems with Hamas in Hebron” . Hebron’s mayor, Youssef al-Jaabari, told Al Jazeera that 2,200 people had been forced from their homes since the raids began .
The Israeli military said its forces were carrying out “precise, targeted and thorough searches” in areas linked to the attackers, with restrictions already in place for Palestinian workers entering settlements in the West Bank and Jordan Valley ahead of the election .
The Palestinian Authority condemned the displacements, house demolitions, and city closures as collective punishment and called for international intervention . The operation comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a tightly contested election against an opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.
