Symbolic imageHebron displacement grows as UN commission accuses Israel of crimes against humanity
Israeli forces have displaced thousands of Palestinians in Hebron since an attack killed two soldiers on Friday. A UN commission of inquiry accused Israel on Monday of crimes against humanity in the West Bank.
After two Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers and were themselves killed on Friday, 23 October, the army sealed Hebron and ordered residents out of Ein Deir Bahha, where the attackers lived. Counts of the displaced differ: the city's Support and Relief Committee says 2,649 people, the municipality 3,189, the governor 3,171. The army says civilians left voluntarily, while evacuees told the Guardian they were forced out. Al Jazeera reports that Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz announced they would apply the "Jenin camp model" to Hebron. UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned that collective punishment is a grave violation of international law and that threats to empty whole neighbourhoods raise concerns about possible ethnic cleansing.
Demolitions reach the High Court
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich justified the demolitions as "establishing deterrence and exacting a price", according to Al Jazeera. In a filing on Sunday, the state told the High Court that parts of two business premises were demolished without a prior hearing because the military commander saw an urgent security risk near the checkpoint. The owners, who deny any involvement, call it collective punishment.
UN commission findings
In a report published on Monday, the UN commission of inquiry found Israeli authorities and forces committed the crimes against humanity of extermination, torture, rape and persecution in the West Bank. It counts 254 Palestinians killed in air strikes between 7 October 2023 and 30 September 2026, against six from 2008 to 6 October 2023. Israel's foreign ministry called the report propaganda, and its Geneva mission demanded the commission's dissolution.
Other opinions
The Jerusalem Post stresses the army's discovery of a 15-metre shaft near an attacker's home and the state's security rationale, while Al Jazeera, the Guardian and Le Monde centre displaced residents and collective punishment.