2,200 Palestinians displaced amid Israeli raids in Al-Khalil
The Israeli military forced around 2,200 Palestinians to leave their homes in Al-Khalil in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian official said on Saturday, a day after two Israeli soldiers killed in a shooting attack.
Al-Khalil’s mayor Yousef al-Ja’bari told Al Jazeera that around 2,200 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes in the city’s Al-Jaladah and Ein Deir Baha neighborhoods.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday had said the military would launch a large-scale operation after the soldiers were killed when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a military checkpoint near the city. The Israeli military said the gunmen were shot dead.
The Israeli military also demolished Palestinian buildings in the city of Al-Khalil.
The Palestinian Authority has criticized the operation as a “collective punishment”.
Yousef Zouhair Al-Jabari, the head of Al-Khalil’s municipality, said around 1,300 faced losing their homes in addition to the 1,200 already displaced.
He also said the Israeli operations were motivated by parliamentary elections on Tuesday when Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition may lose his majority, opinion polls show.
“Netanyahu and the radical ministers in his government are trying to win as many votes as possible from the settlers,” Al-Jabari said.
The non-governmental organization the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said Israeli forces had arrested around 70 Palestinians on Friday and Saturday. Israeli officials have not commented on any arrests.
Al-Jabari said the military had demolished shops, factories, homes, and roads in Al-Khalil and that the response was disproportionate and unjustified.
Residents in Al-Khalil said the military expelled many people with no connection to the Palestinian attackers.
Netanyahu’s cabinet has presided over a rapid expansion of settlements, deemed illegal by UN bodies and most countries.
Across the West Bank, Israel has blocked the entrances to most Palestinian cities and towns, severely curtailing Palestinians’ freedom of movement.
Yousef Mur, a resident of the Palestinian town of Yatta, said the closures meant he was unable to reach Jerusalem with his daughter for her cancer treatment.
“The situation is bad, and we are suffering. When we tried to cross, they fired stun grenades towards us, and my girl got scared on the way. They fired stun grenades towards people. The situation is very difficult,” Mur said.