Israeli occupation forces withdrew early Monday from the neighborhoods they had raided and besieged in Al-Khalil (Hebron), the southern occupied West Bank, following a 10-day military assault that left widespread damage to infrastructure and residential properties and forcibly displaced hundreds of families.
Al-Khalil Mayor Yousef Al-Jaabari said Israeli forces withdrew from all neighborhoods of the city at 6 a.m., after which residents began returning to their homes to assess the damage caused by the assault.
Al-Jaabari said Israeli occupation forces had converted approximately 540 homes and residential units into military barracks during the incursion. He added that the assault caused extensive damage to infrastructure, including the bulldozing of roads and targeted areas, the destruction of vehicles, and damage to residents’ homes.
He said the municipality would assess the extent of the destruction and document losses across various sectors as residents gradually resume their daily lives. Students have also begun returning to schools and universities after days of disrupted education caused by the military incursions and closures.
Al-Khalil authorities urged residents to avoid touching or attempting to move suspicious objects and to keep away from unfamiliar objects, ammunition, and unexploded remnants. They also advised residents not to return to their homes until the area had been confirmed safe and to avoid entering damaged buildings before they had been inspected by the relevant authorities.
Residents were urged to keep roads clear for Civil Defense teams and the Palestinian police’s Explosives Engineering Unit and to avoid gathering at locations where emergency teams were operating. Authorities also stressed the importance of keeping children, older people, and persons with disabilities under close supervision and prioritizing their needs in recovery and temporary accommodation efforts.
According to figures released by the Al-Khalil Municipality, the Israeli assault displaced or affected more than 3,300 people, demolished 15 homes and other structures, and forced the closure of 327 shops. Direct daily losses approached 12 million shekels (approximately $3.8 million). The operation also prevented around 80,000 schoolchildren from attending classes.
Israel imposed its siege and military occupation of parts of Al-Khalil on October 23, following a shooting attack carried out by two Palestinians that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others. The Israeli army killed the two alleged attackers and subsequently demolished their homes in Al-Khalil.
Since then, the Israeli military has enforced a closure on Al-Khalil and surrounding villages. It also seized Palestinian homes in the Jalda and Ein Deir Baha neighborhoods, converted them into military barracks, and raised Israeli flags over them.
The initial days of the siege saw forced displacement, the demolition of homes, other structures, and commercial premises, and the destruction of infrastructure.
Palestinians inspect the destruction and damage left behind by Israeli occupation forces in their homes in the Jalda and Ein Deir Bahha areas of Hebron, after being forcibly displaced during a ten-day siege. https://t.co/hjmNQKXrTl
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) November 2, 2026
Sharp Rise in Israeli Military, Settler Attacks in October
Against the backdrop of the Israeli enemy’s 10-day military operation in Al-Khalil, a separate Palestinian official report has highlighted a broader escalation in Israeli army and settler violence across the occupied West Bank, with attacks surging in October and more than doubling in some categories compared with the previous month. The report also points to an expanding scope of violations and increasingly coordinated roles played by Israeli occupation forces and settlers.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, a Palestinian government body, said in its monthly report published on Monday that Israeli forces and settlers carried out 3,133 attacks against Palestinians, their land and their property during October. Separately, the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs documented 31 settler violations on Sunday alone.
The commission said the figures reflected a “dangerous escalation” and an expansion of settler violence, with military and settlement-related tactics increasingly operating in tandem to target the Palestinian presence and undermine the foundations of life on their land.
Of the 3,133 recorded attacks, 1,764 were carried out by Israeli forces and 1,369 by settlers. The total represented a 52.8% increase from September, when 2,051 attacks were recorded. Settler attacks alone rose from 647 to 1,369, an increase of 111.6%—more than doubling in a single month.
Systematic Attacks and Division of Roles
According to the commission, the escalation reflects a shift towards more intensive and widespread settler violence, coinciding with the olive harvest season, during which farmers, their land, and their crops faced sustained attacks. The commission described the pattern as a systematic campaign involving a functional division of roles between the Israeli military and settlers.
It stressed that the danger lay not only in the number of attacks, significant as that figure was, but also in the way different forms of violence reinforced one another. These included direct assaults on Palestinians, the destruction of property and agricultural crops, preventing access to farmland, imposing closures, establishing settlement outposts, demolishing structures, and issuing military orders.
Together, the commission said, these measures formed a system designed to undermine Palestinians’ ability to remain on their land and impose coercive conditions intended to drive them out.
Settlement Outposts, Land Plans, and Military Orders
The commission said settlers attempted to establish 28 new settlement outposts during October, concentrated primarily in the governorates of Al-Khalil, Nablus, Ramallah, and Al-Bireh.
Under its monitoring of military orders, the commission also documented five orders and declarations targeting approximately 229 dunams of Palestinian land. One dunam is equivalent to 1,000 square meters. The measures included declaring land state property, ordering the removal of trees and vegetation, and seizing land for military purposes.
Israeli occupation authorities demolished 129 structures and issued 11 demolition notices targeting Palestinian buildings and property. Al-Quds (Jerusalem) recorded the highest number of demolitions, with 46 structures destroyed, followed by Al-Khalil with 37 and Jericho with 11.
The commission also reported that Israeli authorities advanced 10 settlement-related master plans across the West Bank and East Al-Quds during October, alongside issuing five tenders—three in East Al-Quds and two elsewhere in the West Bank. The developments, it said, reflected the continuation of policies aimed at expanding settlement construction and developing its planning and service infrastructure.
On November 1, the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs said it had documented 31 settler attacks against Palestinians and their property across several West Bank governorates. The incidents included 10 attacks targeting residents and farmers, as well as six cases of theft and vandalism involving property, crops, and infrastructure.
Source: Agencies (translated and edited by Al-Manar)