Israeli occupation forces began evacuating Palestinians from the al-Jalda area of Al-Khalil early Saturday as the military launched a multi-day operation involving mass deployments, movement restrictions, arrests and demolitions across the occupied West Bank.

The operation, announced jointly by the Israeli military and Shin Bet on Friday night, has raised fears of further forced displacement as Israeli forces tighten their grip on Al-Khalil and surrounding areas.

Troops entered the city in large numbers and fired flares overhead, while Israeli forces also raided Nablus, Tubas, Aqaba and Qalqilya, carrying out arrests, according to local reports. Palestinian media also reported confrontations between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli occupation forces in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus.

Israeli forces impose sweeping restrictions

In their joint statement, the Israeli military and Shin Bet said the operation, led by the so-called Judea Regional Brigade alongside Border Police and the Civil Administration, would be “focused and limited to the area from which the terrorists operated.”

Under the announced measures, residents would be permitted to leave through only three designated exits, where they would face questioning and security checks. Anyone deemed suspicious by Israeli forces could be taken for interrogation.

Israeli forces had already sealed off Al-Khalil and nearby Halhul, erected roadblocks and deployed troops in surrounding villages from Friday morning, in measures that Palestinian residents fear could facilitate further displacement.

The operation follows a shooting attack at the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint near Al-Khalil on Friday morning. According to the Israeli military, two Palestinian men, identified as Mohammad and Firas Jaaba, both 27 and from Al-Khalil, opened fire on Israeli forces before being killed in a gunfight lasting around 20 minutes. The military said two soldiers were killed and three others wounded.

Hamas praised the attack as a “heroic operation” but did not claim responsibility. The Palestinian resistance movement called on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to confront Israeli soldiers and settlers.

Netanyahu threatens demolitions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who canceled election-related events, vowed to demolish sites in Al-Khalil's historic area and said the city would be “completely transformed.”

Netanyahu ordered the city, home to more than 200,000 people, to be cordoned off. He also said he and Israeli Security Minister Israel Katz were considering an operation on a scale not seen since the 1967 war, invoking Israel's previous military campaign in northern West Bank refugee camps.

The escalation comes days before Israeli settlers are scheduled to vote on October 27.

By Friday afternoon, Israeli bulldozers had begun demolishing structures in Farsh al-Hawa. Video obtained by CNN showed an Israeli soldier giving residents of a housing complex five minutes to evacuate.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that Israeli forces demolished a building containing several apartments, commercial structures, including a tile and ceramics company, and leveled approximately seven dunams of land.

Reuters reported that residents said the demolished properties had no connection to the Palestinians accused of carrying out the shooting attack.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the measures as collective punishment, warning that the destruction of homes and businesses was deepening the suffering of Palestinian civilians.

UN raises alarm over displacement

UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed “extreme alarm” over the sweeping closures, reports of home demolitions and the possibility of further displacement in Al-Khalil, his spokesperson said Friday.

The UN also condemned the record number of Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians reported in 2026. The latest restrictions mark the fourth territory-wide closure imposed in the occupied West Bank in a month, according to the statement.

The UN human rights office's spokesperson for the occupied Palestinian territory described the restrictions as “yet another episode in a never-ending stream of suffocating measures making life more and more unbearable for Palestinians.”

Fears of a repeat of northern West Bank displacement

Netanyahu cited Israel's Operation Iron Wall, launched in January 2025 in Jenin and subsequently extended to Tulkarm, Nur Shams and al-Far'a refugee camps.

A UN human rights office report published in September found that Israeli forces had forcibly displaced more than 33,000 Palestinians from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, with most still unable to return to their homes.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the operation suggested an effort to expel Palestinians and facilitate settlement expansion.

The latest Israeli military campaign in Al-Khalil has renewed concerns that the methods used in northern West Bank refugee camps could be extended to other Palestinian population centres, bringing further displacement, property destruction and restrictions on movement.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank continue to face Israeli military raids, demolitions, settler violence and movement restrictions amid growing international concern over the humanitarian and human rights consequences of the occupation. (ILKHA)