West Bank: Hebron crackdown displaces thousands, Türk warns of ethnic cleansing

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Israel’s “aggressive operation” in the West Bank city of Hebron raises serious concerns of ethnic cleansing, UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned on Monday, as the number of Palestinians forced from their homes passed 3,000 on the eve of Israeli elections.

The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said aid partners are supporting local authorities in Hebron to meet the needs of more than 3,000 people evacuated by Israeli forces since Friday.

Mr. Türk said the operation had demolished homes and commercial property, and deprived residents of the ability to move freely.

The operation began after two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli military checkpoint near Hebron on Friday, killing two soldiers and wounding three others. Both gunmen were killed.

“The sweeping steps taken raise grave concerns of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force – which must end,” Mr. Türk said in a statement.

Punishment ‘designed to instil fear’

The Israeli lockdown is confining many people to their homes and immediate neighbourhoods, the UN rights chief said.

“Declarations by senior Israeli Government officials indicate that the measures implemented are punitive in nature and designed to instil fear. This is unacceptable,” he said.

He called for all those displaced to be allowed to return home, and for Israel to ensure compensation and reparation for unlawful evictions and demolitions, and the displacement they caused.

“Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law,” he warned. “Threats to empty and erase entire neighbourhoods also raise serious concerns of ethnic cleansing.”

Record year of settler attacks

OCHA said the UN and its partners are responding to new displacement in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Settler attacks continued across the West Bank over the weekend, disrupting the olive harvest.

More than 2,000 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage have been recorded since the start of 2026 – more than in any previous year on record, according to OCHA.

Arson attacks in Gaza

In Gaza, humanitarian partners warn that Palestinian families in areas along the so-called “yellow line” continue to face reported arson attacks.

“In recent days, new [yellow] blocks have been observed in Ash Shuja’iyyeh and parts of Deir al Balah,” OCHA said in its latest situation report.

“Since Friday, a UN site in Deir al Balah has come under fire. There have also been three separate shooting incidents in the vicinity of three UN schools and near a UN convoy.”

UN teams just visited the Ash Shuja’iyyeh area of Gaza City, where tents were set on fire Sunday night, identifying at least nine households who lost their shelters. This follows another fire that was instigated at the site last week, triggering the displacement of about 200 families.

Israel ‘committed war crimes’

Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians and continues to commit genocide in Gaza, independent UN human rights investigators said in a new report on Monday.

The crimes against humanity include extermination, persecution, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, according to the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. Its latest report has been presented to the UN General Assembly.

The commission was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021. It is made up of independent experts who are not UN staff and are not paid for their work.

“The intentional killing and injuring of Palestinian civilians and destruction of homes in the West Bank combined with Israel’s persistent denial of responsibility form part of a broader strategy to exterminate and displace Palestinians and impose conditions of life that are unliveable,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, commission chair.

He said Israel’s expansion of territorial control in Gaza “continues to result in the killing and harming of Palestinian civilians who approach or cross the “yellow line” – the line Israeli forces withdrew to under the October 2025 ceasefire agreement.

The investigators also found that in Gaza, “Israeli authorities and forces continue to commit genocidal acts even after the so-called ceasefire agreement, with the intent to destroy the Palestinian people, in whole or in part.”

Israel rejected the findings. Its permanent mission in Geneva said the report was “yet another manifestation of its misinformation campaign to demonise the State of Israel and portray its very existence as criminal”.