Israel raids Hebron as land seizures increase in East Jerusalem

On the night of 18 January, an Israeli military operation was launched in Palestinian city of Hebron located in the southern occupied West Bank, according to The New Arab.

Several entrances to the city were sealed off by the military, which overnight raided a number of Palestinian homes and arrested several people, including a 13-year-old boy named Mohammed Mutawwar.

The Israeli army said the operation is focused on the Jabal Johar area of Hebron, claiming that its aim is to “eliminate infrastructure” allegedly belonging to Palestinian armed groups in the area. The operations “will continue for several days with the participation of the Shin Bet (internal security service) and the Border Police”, the Israeli armed forces said in a statement.

The advance of Israeli forces in the occupied territories of the West Bank has not been limited to Hebron. Between 18 and 19 January, more than 20 Palestinians were arrested in Nablus and Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, as well as in Bethlehem and Hebron in the south. Not only major urban centres have been targeted by Israeli military operations, as demonstrated by a raid carried out on the evening of 18 January on the mosque in the village of Kafr Nima, west of Ramallah.

Since October 2023, attacks by settlers and operations by the Israeli army against Palestinian communities in the West Bank have increased sharply, resulting in more than 1,000 deaths, around 11,000 injuries and over 20,000 arrests. Alongside the violence, the confiscation of Palestinian land in East Jerusalem has continued. On 18 January, the Israeli-controlled Jerusalem municipality notified residents of the Al-Bustan neighbourhood, located in the Silwan area of East Jerusalem, of a plan to seize 1,100 square metres of land, citing the construction of a landscaping project and a parking area as justification.

The Jerusalem Governorate, one of the 16 administrative divisions of Palestine, warned that Israeli authorities are seeking to create a “legal” cover for a silent process of ethnic cleansing. This confiscation follows another announced earlier this month, which, under the same pretext, targets the seizure of 5,700 square metres of land in the Al-Bustan neighbourhood. According to the Jerusalem Governorate, the 1,500 Palestinians living in Al-Bustan are facing intense pressure through demolitions, arrests and closures, aimed at forcing residents out and tightening Israeli control around the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The New Arab, Maghrebi.org