By Saturday morning, Israeli forces had raided hundreds of homes in the Hebron area and turned dozens of houses into military interrogation centres, according to the Palestinian Prisoners\u2019 Society.<\/p>\n
Around 300 Palestinian families were being displaced in the city\u2019s al-Jalda neighbourhood, reported Al Jazeera\u2019s colleagues on the ground. Footage of the area, shared by Palestinians on Telegram, showed soldiers standing guard and military vehicles, shopping trolleys and other objects blocking the roads.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Israeli bulldozers wrecked a three-storey building in Hebron, while ordering more Palestinian families to leave their homes in the Ein Deir Bahha area of the city and its surroundings.<\/p>\n
Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist and political analyst based in Hebron, said nearly 800,000 Palestinians in the Hebron governorate were \u201cunder siege, with all entrances and exits closed since (Saturday) morning\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said many displaced families had left the night before, \u201cwithout carrying enough goods or clothing, or the children\u2019s schoolbags\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were walking with fear, without knowing where they were going,\u201d Amro told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Israeli forces raided at least 15 towns<\/a> in the northern West Bank, including Nablus, Jenin, Tubas and Qalqilya, Al Jazeera correspondents reported. In total, Israeli forces arrested around 70 people between Friday and early Saturday, while interrogating hundreds more, said the Prisoners\u2019 Society.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera\u2019s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah in the West Bank, said there was \u201ca lot of anxiety\u201d throughout the occupied territory as people largely avoided going into the streets.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a lot of fear that the pledge by the Israeli prime minister to use in Hebron what he described as the successful model employed in the Tulkarem and Jenin refugee camps of forced displacement, could mean months of being away from their homes and possibly losing them to massive demolitions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Why has Israel locked down the West Bank?<\/p>\n The measure is a response<\/a> to Friday\u2019s attack at an Israeli checkpoint near Hebron.<\/p>\n But it also takes place just days before Israel\u2019s election on Tuesday<\/a>, during which Israel had already been planning to lock down the occupied territory, reported The Times of Israel.<\/p>\n During the lockdown, Netanyahu said Israeli troops would conduct \u201cextensive waves of arrests\u201d and pursue Hamas fighters \u201cwherever they are and at all times\u201d.<\/p>\n The operation comes amid signs that Israel and its ally the United States are preparing for a potential new wave of attacks on Iran.<\/p>\n According to The New York Times, the US and Israel have drafted plans for a campaign of attacks on Iran that would take place after the US midterm elections on November 3.<\/p>\n Citing unnamed US officials and other informed sources, The New York Times reported that the US and Israel have intensified drills for a \u201ca short but intensive operation\u201d against Iran, with potential targets to include the country\u2019s \u201cenergy infrastructure, nuclear facilities, and missile and drone arsenal\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Far-right](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/afp_6adba4b89103-1792779448.jpg\")
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visits the scene of the earlier fire exchange at a checkpoint near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, October 23, 2026 [AFP]<\/p>\n