Thousands Displaced in Hebron as Israel Locks Down West Bank After Deadly Attack

Israeli forces have locked down the city of Hebron and driven thousands of Palestinians from their homes, as the military conducts raids across the occupied West Bank after two Israeli soldiers were killed. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has appealed for international pressure on Israel to protect the city's residents.

Hebron's mayor, Yousef al-Ja'bari, told Al Jazeera that 2,200 people have been forced out of their homes. He said hundreds of Israeli raids have taken place since Friday, when two Palestinian gunmen attacked an Israeli army reserve base. Both gunmen were killed, along with the two Israeli soldiers.

Residents said soldiers announced evacuation orders over loudspeakers late at night. That left families with no time to prepare and few places to go. Al-Ja'bari said that on Saturday people could neither enter nor leave the city.

Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a "full lockdown" of the West Bank. Al Jazeera journalists documenting an Israeli operation to bulldoze homes and vehicles near the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint in Hebron were targeted by soldiers, who fired a stun grenade at them.

Al Jazeera correspondents reported Israeli raids in at least 15 areas of the West Bank on Saturday. Those included Jenin and Nablus in the north, Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Birzeit and occupied East Jerusalem in the centre, and Bethlehem in the south. The Palestinian Prisoners' Society said Israeli forces had arrested about 70 Palestinians in the raids.

The PA, which governs the West Bank, described the actions as "collective punishment". It cited home demolitions, the forced displacement of entire neighbourhoods and the "closure and siege of Palestinian cities", and urged the international community to step in, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Hamas said in a statement that the "campaigns and escalations carried out by the occupation and its criminal settlers against our people will only fuel further outrage".

About 200,000 Palestinians live in the city of Hebron, and another 600,000 live elsewhere in Hebron governorate, the most populous in the West Bank. Issa Amro, a Hebron-based Palestinian activist and political analyst, told Al Jazeera that those 800,000 people are "now under siege, with all entrances and exits closed since morning". He added: "Inside the city, there is no safe place for anyone to hide … the city is really in fear."

The raids come days before Israeli parliamentary elections on October 27. Al Jazeera's West Bank correspondent Nour Odeh said Israeli politicians are trying to "capitalise" on the attack. She noted that Netanyahu, his Likud party and their right-wing coalition allies are behind in the polls, and are therefore "trying to put up a brave front, saying they're combating Palestinians".

Netanyahu avoided saying whether he plans to dismantle the PA, but said a "big surprise" awaits the organisation.