Israel’s high court temporarily halts Hebron demolitions

The temporary demolition order

Human rights lawyer Mohammed Dahleh filed the urgent petition for two nearby factory owners. He argued that the demolitions violated international law on collective punishment—punishing people for others’ actions—and Israeli administrative law, which governs decisions by public authorities. The temporary order is not a final judgment on those arguments.

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted a video beside a bulldozer demolishing a Palestinian home near the firefight site. He said destroying the home, described as built without permits, aimed to “create deterrence and exact a price”. The Guardian said no connection had been claimed between its owners and the attackers.

In the Guardian’s 24 October account, Smotrich said he ordered the immediate demolition of a wide row of structures near the attack site, which he described as illegal. He also called for a wider military campaign comparable to those in Gaza and Lebanon. Netanyahu said Israel would “act to destroy this place”.

The Guardian sought the army’s comment on the operations and videos showing extensive destruction.

Displacement estimates and emergency shelter

Hebron’s mayor Yousef al-Ja’bari told Al Jazeera on 24 October that 2,200 people had been forced from their homes and residents could neither enter nor leave the city. Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz put displacement at about 2,000, in the BBC’s 25 October account. These are separate estimates, not figures to add together.

The municipality estimated on 24 October that 35 hectares (86 acres) in Ein Deir Baha had been destroyed or marked for destruction. That includes threatened demolition, not only completed destruction. A spokesperson said about 300 families had been evicted; some stayed with friends and relatives, while community halls and children’s play areas sheltered others.

Videos supplied by a Hebron resident showed houses across several urban blocks flattened, soldiers marking homes with black crosses and a bulldozer tearing down a stone wall, the Guardian said in its 24 October account. Residents separately told Reuters that soldiers painted black X marks on homes after forcing occupants out.

Hebron civil rights activist Issa Amro said the displaced families were unconnected to the attack and described their treatment as collective punishment. His sister’s family was among those expelled, he said.

Residents describe expulsion and blocked treatment

In Reuters reporting carried by France 24 on 24 October, Hebron residents said forces expelled many people with no connection to the attackers. Majdi Nasser, who was driven from his home, said those affected included children and appealed for help, saying they were not involved.

Yousef Mur, a resident of Yatta, said the closures prevented him from reaching Jerusalem with his daughter for her cancer treatment. He said stun grenades were fired towards people trying to cross, frightening his daughter.

The municipality head, named as Yousef Zouhair Al-Jabari in that account, said the military had demolished shops, factories, homes and roads. He called the response disproportionate and unjustified. The Palestinian Authority described the operation as collective punishment and called on 24 October for international pressure on Israel to protect residents.

The Israeli military said its operation in Al-Jaladah and Ein Deir Baha, near the checkpoint at Hebron’s entrance, was intended to search for militants and weapons. It also said it would carry out demolitions.

Raids across the West Bank

Al Jazeera correspondents said on 24 October that Israeli forces had raided at least 15 northern West Bank towns and detained dozens of Palestinians. Targets included Nablus, Jenin, Tubas and Qalqilya, with home raids and arrests in Jalud and Qaryut near Nablus, and arrests in Arrabeh and Burqin near Jenin. Forces also entered Aqqaba near Tubas, Jericho and the nearby Aqabat Jabr refugee camp.

In Hebron, bulldozers demolished a three-storey building after families were given five minutes to collect their belongings, the broadcaster said. Forces ordered hundreds of families to leave Ein Deir Baha and surrounding areas, surrounded a shooting suspect’s home and raided the al-Jalda neighbourhood. Those evacuation orders described families told to leave, not completed departures.

The demolition policy behind the operation

A BBC photograph showed diggers demolishing Palestinian homes on the afternoon of 23 October. Netanyahu had announced plans to demolish the neighbourhood where the attackers were said to have come from and force residents out. Katz also promised further mass demolitions and forced displacement.

Israeli forces commonly demolish homes of Palestinians suspected of attacks on Israelis; Israeli rights groups have criticised the practice as collective punishment. Netanyahu compared his plans with earlier operations in northern West Bank refugee camps, where residential buildings were demolished and thousands displaced.

The military’s account of the checkpoint attack

The military said the gunmen attacked a reserve battalion near the Israeli settlement of Telem on the morning of 23 October. A preliminary military investigation put the gunfight at more than 20 minutes. Five Israelis were initially wounded, two of whom later died.

The military said it found a large quantity of ammunition in the attackers’ vehicle and believed they intended a larger attack on nearby Route 35 before encountering the checkpoint. The BBC verified footage showing the gunmen firing at soldiers and coming under return fire.

Movement was restricted before the worker bans

Netanyahu initially ordered a cordon around Hebron and preparations for a full West Bank closure beginning on 23 October, saying soldiers had prevented a “major attack”. He later said cordons surrounded Hebron and nearby Halhul. By 24 October, checkpoints sealed every entrance to Hebron, and entrances to most Palestinian cities and towns across the West Bank were blocked.

Al Jazeera said the military locked down Hebron and arrested two Palestinians on 23 October. The Guardian said gates and checkpoints connecting Palestinian villages to major roads were shut, while those roads remained open to Israeli drivers, including settlers. These were the fourth territory-wide restrictions in the month preceding 23 October.

Al Jazeera’s 24 October account said nearly 1,000 checkpoints and gates would close under the lockdown, affecting millions of Palestinians. That was an anticipated wider closure, not a completed count. The military had already cordoned off Hebron and heavily restricted residents’ movement before announcing the worker restrictions on 25 October.

The attack came amid rising settler violence against Palestinians during the olive harvest. At least 96 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the start of 2026, according to United Nations figures cited on 23 October.

The operation and the next scheduled closure

Netanyahu ordered preparations for a “very extensive” West Bank operation, saying forces would evacuate residents from the attackers’ neighbourhood, go house to house and seize weapons. He subsequently said plans had been drawn up for what he described as the largest West Bank military operation since 1967, without setting a date.

Late on 23 October, the army said its Hebron operation had begun and would last “for several days”, alongside operations by other forces in “dozens” of West Bank areas.

The next scheduled expansion of movement restrictions is on 27 October: the military says all West Bank land crossings will close and its settlement-worker ban will extend to industrial zones.