Israeli military forces and settlers have intensified raids, arrests, home demolitions, and movement restrictions across the occupied West Bank, compounding a humanitarian strain that includes a weeklong military offensive and siege in the Hebron governorate.
In the Qalandiya refugee camp north of occupied East Jerusalem, a Thursday military raid sparked clashes that left two children wounded. The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that its medical teams treated a 15-year-old boy shot with live ammunition in both legs and a 12-year-old child injured by live-bullet fragments; both were hospitalized. In another incident, Israeli soldiers and settlers beat Mohammad Ahmad Ayesh Thawabta, a disabled Palestinian resident in the village of al-Maniya southeast of Bethlehem, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa. Pre-dawn raids across the northern West Bank on Thursday also resulted in 13 detentions, including three brothers, primarily in the Nablus governorate, where soldiers searched homes and harassed families.
The military operations in Hebron began last week following a gun attack that killed two Israeli soldiers, after which both Palestinian suspects were also killed. Hebron Governor Khaled Dudin reported that 537 families—comprising 3,361 individuals—have been forced from their homes. This displaced population includes 232 infants, 326 older people, 147 pregnant or breastfeeding women, and 213 people with chronic illnesses. Municipal figures indicate that about 5,000 people from 780 families have been directly affected, including those under siege.
The offensive has disrupted education for approximately 262,000 students across 589 schools in the Hebron governorate, forcing institutions to transition to remote learning. Officials estimate daily economic losses between 10 million and 12 million shekels, roughly $3.2 million to $3.9 million. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society stated that Israeli forces detained 110 Palestinians in the governorate between Friday and Wednesday. Soldiers reportedly beat two men in Dura and Wad al-Saman, arrested two brothers plowing their land east of Yatta, and raided homes in Taffuh and Halhul, while settlers attacked vehicles at the city’s closed northern entrance.
In Masafer Yatta, armed settlers attacked U.S. journalist Jasper Nathaniel and two activists in the village of Umm al-Khair on Wednesday. Russian activist Adele Shoko posted on social media that settlers beat and threatened the group, stole their equipment, and pepper-sprayed and arrested Nathaniel. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs noted that Israeli forces continue to block access and enforce tight movement restrictions across Hebron, disrupting livelihoods, healthcare, and education while most displaced families shelter with relatives.
Israeli forces also demolished memorial sites across several parts of the Hebron governorate. In Dura south of Hebron city, soldiers fired heavy tear gas barrages before bulldozing a mural featuring images of local figures killed in past decades, including Bajis Abu Atwan, who died in the 1970s. Observers noted that targeting memorials appears to be an emerging pattern across West Bank governorates, executed at a higher frequency in Hebron. Military and settler actions throughout the West Bank have intensified significantly since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
