Israeli forces detain two children, take over Hebron homes after soldiers' killing

Right · 1Israeli forces detained two Palestinian children in Hebron on Sunday and ordered families out of a residential building before converting it into a military barracks, according to Palestinian media and local officials. 1 Right · 1Farid Burqan said his children, Yamen and Muhammad, were detained in the city's Al-Fahs area and taken to the Hajti military camp for interrogation, as reported by the Palestinian news agency Wafa. 1 Right · 1The converted building belongs to Mansour Al-Turk and stands next to the Al-Haimouni family's communal gathering hall. 1

Mixed · 2The operation followed a Friday gun attack on an Israeli checkpoint that killed two Israeli soldiers and, per Arab News citing the Associated Press, wounded three others; the two attackers were killed at the scene, according to the Guardian. 1 2 Right · 1The Israeli military said it found weapons in the gunmen's car and believed they had planned to attack Israeli civilians before being stopped at the checkpoint. 1 Left · 1The Guardian reports that the whole city of 250,000 was sealed off within hours, the Farsh al-Hawa industrial neighbourhood nearest the attack site was flattened, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of military operations on a scale not seen in the West Bank in nearly 60 years of occupation. 2

Mixed · 2Displacement figures vary by report: the Hebron municipality told Arab News that more than 2,600 people were displaced, with families forced from nearly 500 apartments in Deir Bahha and nearby neighbourhoods, while the Guardian cites the municipality as saying 370 families, nearly 2,000 people, were displaced from Ein Deir Baha. 1 2 Mixed · 2The military said troops were searching the area where the gunmen operated and warned residents to evacuate; it said civilians who wished to leave were permitted to do so temporarily and that the displaced had left voluntarily. 1 2 Left · 1Residents quoted by the Guardian dispute that: imam Fahed Ahmaro said loudspeakers ordered homeowners out around midnight, and 77-year-old Abdul Halim al-Tamimi said his family was given 10 minutes and was forced out by three military vehicles, after which the army turned his villa into its headquarters. 2

Left · 1The army said 2,000 of the local people belonged to the Jaba'a clan, from which the gunmen were allegedly drawn and which it called "associated with Hamas"; residents told the Guardian the clan numbers 150 at most and has no reputation for radicalism. 2 Left · 1Hebron's mayor, Yousef al-Jabari, called the operation "collective punishment" and accused the army of keeping media out; Palestinians in the West Bank cannot vote in Tuesday's Israeli election. 2 Mixed · 2Both outlets place the operation in the run-up to an Israeli election seen as a test of Netanyahu's security record; the Guardian says his coalition is narrowly trailing. 1 2