Israeli Raids Continue Across West Bank as Hebron Lockdown Reaches Sixth Day

Israeli forces continued their incursions into Hebron on Wednesday, as the lockdown of the largest city in the occupied West Bank entered its sixth day. According to Anadolu news agency, troops raided several neighbourhoods in the city and towns across the wider governorate, and tightened restrictions at the entrances to Hebron.

Around midnight, soldiers also entered the Fawwar refugee camp south of Hebron and searched a number of Palestinian homes.

Elsewhere in the territory, the Wafa news agency reported that Israeli troops detained four Palestinians in Tulkarem. Those held included a journalist and his two brothers, along with an officer who works for the Palestinian General Intelligence Service.

In the town of Beita, south of Nablus, soldiers fired tear gas at protesters who were demonstrating against the demolition of two homes belonging to the families of two Palestinian prisoners. In the village of Yasid, north of Nablus, a Palestinian man suffered fractures to his hand after Israeli forces beat him during an attack on the village.

Wafa also reported that troops raided homes in Burin village and turned several of them into military barracks. Schools in southern Nablus have been told to switch to remote learning to protect students and staff.

The latest raids came a day after the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) voiced "grave concern" over the continuing incursions into Hebron, which it said have displaced nearly 5,000 Palestinians. The agency warned that "collective punishment" violates international law.

"A near-total lockdown across large parts of Hebron has severely restricted residents' freedom of movement and their ability to access critical services," Roland Friedrich, the director of UNRWA Affairs for the occupied West Bank, said in a post on X.

Friedrich added that the situation "brings alarming echoes" of the mass displacement seen in the northern occupied West Bank in early 2025. More than 34,000 Palestine refugees from the Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps, Friedrich noted, remain forcibly displaced more than a year later.

The Israeli campaign follows the killing of two Israeli soldiers by Palestinian gunmen at a checkpoint last week. Israeli forces later killed the gunmen.

Palestinian officials have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his hard-right government of exploiting the operation to win settler votes ahead of Tuesday's elections in Israel.