via the Electronic Intifada
Israel’s military is committing international crimes with the intent of genocide in its assault on Hebron, where thousands of people have been displaced from or trapped inside their homes, according to a prominent Palestinian human rights group.
The offensive was launched after a shooting attack that left two soldiers and two Palestinian gunmen dead at a checkpoint outside the city in the occupied West Bank last Friday.
Hebron was put under lockdown after senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declared their intent to forcibly displace Palestinians and destroy their homes, replicating the destruction of three refugee camps in the northern West Bank beginning in January 2025.
The statements have raised concerns of collective punishment, mass forced displacement and ethnic cleansing as senior Israeli officials appeared to use Friday’s shooting attack as a pretext to alter the demographics of the second-largest city in the occupied West Bank after East Jerusalem.
The Global Protection Cluster – a network engaged in protection work in humanitarian crises led by the UN refugee agency – warned that mass forced displacement and collective punishment were underway in Hebron.
Statements by senior Israeli officials “raise serious concerns regarding the risk of unlawful forcible transfer and ethnic cleansing.”
The protection cluster added that Israeli forces have also “imposed extensive movement restrictions” and “carried out widespread home searches and detained dozens of Palestinians.”
Read the article at electronicintifada.net.