Sawt Falasteen - Hebron operation forces 373 Palestinian families from their homes

Israeli forces had forced 373 Palestinian families from their homes in two areas of Hebron by Sunday morning, according to Ghaith Ghaith, the municipality’s media director.

The displaced families comprise about 2,422 people from Jaldah and Deir Bahha. Ghaith told Kuwait News Agency that Israeli forces had ordered all roughly 500 families in the two areas to leave.

The removals came as an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank city entered its third day. The action followed a shooting at a checkpoint near Hebron on Friday in which two Israeli soldiers were killed.

After the shooting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened an offensive in the West Bank on a scale not seen since 1967.

At the start of the operation, Israeli forces published a map identifying 350 dunams, equivalent to 35 hectares, for evacuation near the location of the checkpoint shooting, Ghaith said.

The municipality’s figures indicated that most of the residents ordered out of the two neighbourhoods had already been displaced by Sunday morning, while the military operation remained under way.

T.Khatib--SF-PST