Netanyahu Uses Hebron Chaos To Boost Election Odds

Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank, is now the focal point of Israel's election campaign. The shift came after a gun attack on Friday at a military checkpoint killed two soldiers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visited the site on television to pledge retribution. Their coalition trails in polling with two days of campaigning left. Netanyahu warned of military operations on a scale not seen in the West Bank for nearly 60 years.

The city of 250,000 people was sealed off within hours of the shooting. The neighborhood of Farsh al-Hawa, closest to the attack site, was flattened. By Sunday morning, rubble covered an industrial area that previously housed car workshops, a large ceramics plant, and other businesses. While bulldozers cleared the site, forces began emptying the nearby district of Ein Deir Baha.

The Israeli army stated that Ein Deir Baha was home to at least one of the two attackers. Both gunmen were killed at the scene. Fahed Ahmaro, imam of the local mosque, was woken around midnight by loudspeakers on patrol vehicles. He was ordered to leave immediately for his safety. Thirty members of his family lived in the house. He moved his mother and several grandchildren to a relative's home elsewhere in Hebron. As he returned to collect items, a neighbor warned that the army had blown up the gates of his house.

"You don't know what you have until you lose it," Ahmaro said. On Sunday, he was shopping for clothes for his grandchildren, unsure how long the displacement would last. The Hebron municipality reported that 370 families, totaling nearly 2,000 people, were displaced from Ein Deir Baha. The Israeli army claimed residents left voluntarily. It stated that civilians wishing to evacuate were permitted to leave the area temporarily. Ahmaro rejected that account. "Never, never, never. Why should I leave my house?" he said.

Abdul Halim al-Tamimi, 77, said the military arrived at his home at 1:30 a.m. He was given 10 minutes to leave. An intelligence officer warned that if the family refused, they would be displaced as happened in Gaza. The family stood outside until three military vehicles confronted them. They were forced out and left at 3:00 a.m. on Saturday. By Sunday morning, their villa was draped in large Israeli flags. Military vehicles ringed the property, which served as an army headquarters.

The army stated that about 2,000 local residents belonged to the Jaba'a clan. It alleged the gunmen were drawn from that group and described the clan as associated with Hamas. Residents of Ein Deir Baha said the clan numbers at most 150 people. They noted the group has no known reputation for radicalism. Tamimi said his family is from a different clan. He suggested the operation might serve election publicity.

By Sunday evening, all roads in and out of Hebron remained closed to cars behind heavy steel barriers. Only pedestrians moved through the city. Wasam Sadi, a delivery truck driver, arrived at a checkpoint with a smashed windshield. He said settlers attacked him at a nearby junction and left glass in his eyes. Yousef al-Jabari, the mayor of Hebron, called the measures collective punishment. He said residents were dragged from their homes and media were kept out of the district. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank cannot vote on Tuesday, but the election outcome could affect their lives.