Netanyahu Vows to 'Destroy' Hebron Neighborhood, Cites Jenin Expulsion Model

Standing in Hebron alongside Defence Minister Israel Katz, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to demolish a Palestinian neighborhood and expel its residents, following an attack on an army checkpoint that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others. Two Palestinian gunmen were also killed in the attack, according to reporting by the Times of Israel and The New Arab.

"First of all, we will act to destroy this place, to change it completely," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu went further, telling reporters Israel would apply what he called a proven method: "We will implement the successful and aggressive model we used in the refugee camps, which are essentially terrorist strongholds." That reference is to Israel's early 2025 operations in the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, during which, according to The New Arab, roughly 33,000 Palestinians were expelled. That figure was not independently verified in the material reviewed for this report.

Laying out what the Hebron operation would look like, Netanyahu said: "We will evacuate the residents, we will go house to house, we will remove the weapons there as well, and all the terrorist infrastructure will be dealt with and destroyed." He said the military would carry out an operation across the West Bank larger than any since Israel occupied the territory in 1967. Katz confirmed the plan, telling reporters "the Jenin refugee camp model arrives in Hebron."

The announcement came days before Knesset elections in which polling shows neither Netanyahu's bloc nor the opposition, led by Gadi Eisenkot, reaching a governing majority. Zizette Darkazally, an associate fellow at Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Programme, told The New Arab the response reflects Netanyahu's preexisting "Mr Security" posture rather than a shift likely to move undecided voters between blocs.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also oversees West Bank settlement policy, said he had already ordered the demolition of several buildings near the attack site and approved new farm outposts in Masafer Yatta, an area where Palestinian residents have long resisted Israeli demolition campaigns. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir renewed his call to dismantle the Palestinian Authority.

Amir Daoud of the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission told The New Arab that Hebron, home to roughly 250,000 Palestinians, has already been cordoned off, with wider closures being prepared across the West Bank. Daoud said the commission's most recent count found 942 movement obstacles across the territory, restrictions he described as layered "on top of" an existing system that already governs Palestinian movement by military decision.