Israel launches collective punishment campaign in Hebron after two soldiers killed
Benjamin Netanyahu and ministers promise demolitions and forced displacement after deadly gunfight
Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem and Lorenzo TondoFri 23 Oct 2026 18.22 BSTShare
Israel has launched a campaign of collective punishment against Palestinians in Hebron after gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers and injured three near a checkpoint outside the city.
Benjamin Netanyahu announced a siege on Hebron and neighbouring Halhul and said residents of the gunmen’s home neighbourhoods would all be forced out. He promised mass demolitions of homes.
The first destruction began within hours of the attack, as ministers who had been on the campaign trail ahead of elections on Tuesday rushed to the site of the shooting.
The far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, posted a video of himself in front of a bulldozer as it tore down a Palestinian home near the site of the firefight.
The destruction of a home built without permits aimed to “create deterrence and exact a price”, Smotrich said. There was no claim of a connection between the building’s owners and the attackers.
Soon after the destruction began, Israel’s high court issued a temporary order to stop the demolitions. A human rights lawyer, Mohammed Dahleh, filed an urgent petition on behalf of two factory owners nearby, arguing that the demolition violated international law on collective punishment and Israeli administrative law.
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