Israeli Forces Dismantle Illegal Buildings in Hebron After Fatal Attack on Troops
Demolitions and searches followed a shooting that killed two soldiers, as troops searched homes and arrested suspects in the area.
By Sofia Ramirez ·
Two soldiers were killed in a shooting attack, and in the days that followed, troops began tearing down buildings and infrastructure near Hebron.
On Saturday, Israeli soldiers and Civil Administration personnel took down illegally built structures and related infrastructure near the northern entrance to Hebron. The work was part of a larger military operation that began a day earlier, after a deadly shooting on Friday at Yehuda Junction. That attack killed St.-Sgt. Ron Yonatan Roytman and Sgt. Yuval Shai Svilem. According to the military, the demolitions were carried out close to the scene of the shooting to enforce law and order and to remove any potential security threats the structures could pose.
The wider counterterrorism effort falls under the command of the Judea Brigade and draws on troops from the Duvdevan and Maglan units, the Paratroopers Brigade, Givati reconnaissance reservists and Border Police, with intelligence guidance from the Shin Bet security agency. As part of the operation, soldiers searched roughly 200 locations, ruling out the presence of weapons and terrorist activity, and arrested 10 suspects.
According to IDF assessments, about 2,000 residents of the area belong to the Ja'aba clan, which is affiliated with Hamas and from which the gunmen responsible for Friday's attack originated. Military officials in Central Command identified the attackers as Hamouda and Firas al-Ja'aba, both affiliated with Hamas, and said the two came directly from the Ein Dir-Baha neighborhood.
On Friday evening, the military began evacuating the al-Jalda and Ein Dir-Baha neighborhoods, densely populated districts in western Hebron located within the city's Palestinian urban area. Civilians who requested to leave were allowed to temporarily exit through designated checkpoints operated by the Shin Bet and the IDF. Officials said clearing residents from the buildings allows troops and Shin Bet personnel to thoroughly search structures, family homes and their immediate surroundings for terrorist infrastructure, weapons, ammunition, explosives laboratories and weapons caches without endangering civilians. The area is well known to the security establishment as a center of activity for Hamas operatives in Hebron.
A situational assessment was set for Saturday to determine whether to expand the operation. In the meantime, Brig.-Gen. Kobi Heller, commander of the IDF's West Bank Division, has broadened arrest operations and searches in the Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarm areas, as well as additional locations throughout Samaria.
The expanded operations come amid concerns over efforts by Hamas leadership abroad to orchestrate terrorist attacks ahead of the elections. What remains unclear at this stage is whether the operation will widen further, and how long the evacuations of those neighborhoods in Hebron might last.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
