Israeli forces demolish Hebron neighbourhood and displace families after deadly checkpoint attack

Israeli troops razed a neighbourhood in the Ein Deir Baha district of Hebron in the West Bank, evicting about 1,500 people by Saturday afternoon, the Hebron municipality said. The municipality estimated that 35 hectares (86 acres) had been destroyed or marked for destruction, and the city of 250,000 was sealed by checkpoints at every entry point. The operation followed a Friday attack by two gunmen on an Israeli army checkpoint outside Hebron. After a 20-minute gunfight, two Israeli soldiers and both gunmen were dead and three soldiers were wounded. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy the area in retaliation, and Israeli elections are four days away. Videos from a resident showed flattened houses across several blocks, homes marked with black crosses and a bulldozer tearing down a wall. Separately, soldiers beat and injured Hijazi Shawer, a 70-year-old shopkeeper and community leader, during a raid amid house-to-house searches and the displacement of more than 2,000 people.

The left-leaning Guardian leads with the scale of the demolitions, citing local Palestinian authorities who call them collective punishment. It features municipality figures, resident videos, Netanyahu's vow and the timing before the elections, and it also gives the soldiers' deaths. Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative/independent outlets had. Al Jazeera, in the alternative group, takes a distinct angle: the beating of one named elderly man, with a higher displacement figure of more than 2,000 and no mention of the checkpoint attack or the election in the opening.