Palestinian government urges intervention over Israeli operation in Hebron

The Palestinian government called for immediate international intervention on Saturday as Israeli forces closed vehicle access to Hebron and residents left neighbourhoods in the occupied West Bank city after a deadly shooting nearby.

The Israeli military said two soldiers and two suspected Palestinian gunmen were killed in Friday’s attack near Hebron. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office then instructed security forces to cordon off the city and prepare for a full closure of the West Bank, the Associated Press reported. The military said it had begun targeted searches in the Hebron area from which the gunmen had operated.

By Saturday, gates leading in and out of Hebron were closed to vehicles, according to a Palestinian checkpoint-monitoring channel cited by AP. A count by Hebron’s municipality put the number of families who had left Deir Baha and two neighbouring areas at up to 300. AP reporters saw a home in Deir Baha taken over for military use after an evacuation order.

In a statement carried by the Palestinian news agency WAFA, the government in Ramallah accused Israel of forcibly displacing residents, demolishing homes and besieging Palestinian cities. It described the measures as collective punishment and urged international action to prevent what it called further crimes in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel’s military said on Friday that it had begun demolishing infrastructure it considered a threat.

An ANP report published by Nieuws.nl said a full West Bank lockdown had been ordered. AP described an instruction to *prepare* for a full closure. It also reported restrictions at gates and checkpoints elsewhere in the West Bank on Friday, while roads remained open to Israeli motorists. The extent to which the proposed territory-wide closure was implemented remains unclear.