Avner Gidron

B’Tselem urgently calls on governments and international institutions to act now, using all means available under international law, to prevent the forcible displacement of Palestinian civilians, collective punishment and extensive unlawful destruction in Hebron. Israeli leaders are openly declaring their intentions, and actions on the ground have already begun. Following the shooting near Hebron on 23 October, in which two Israeli soldiers were killed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz openly announced plans to forcibly displace Palestinian residents and carry out extensive destruction in the area. In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared: “We will apply in the cities the successful offensive model we implemented in the refugee camps.” That same model has already displaced more than 33,000 Palestinians in the northern West Bank. Now, Israeli leaders are threatening to bring the same mass displacement and destruction to Hebron. Implementation has already begun. Israeli forces imposed a cordon on Hebron and Halhul, while the Civil Administration began demolishing Palestinian structures in the neighborhood of Farsh al-Hawa. At the same time, Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the establishment of four new settlement farming outposts in the South Hebron Hills. Israeli leaders are openly announcing plans for collective punishment and acts that could constitute war crimes. These plans echo Israel’s devastating operations as part of the genocide in Gaza and mark a further escalation of its ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing as part of the Elimination Project in the West Bank: the systematic dismantling of Palestinian collective life while expanding settlements and entrenching permanent Israeli control. The world cannot stand by as Israel continues its assault on Palestinians, waiting for yet more neighborhoods to be emptied and erased before intervening, despite what we have already witnessed in Gaza and the northern West Bank. Governments and international bodies must act now to prevent these crimes and protect Palestinian civilians.