AL-KHALIL, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The Israeli occupation army and the Shin Bet security agency have announced, in a joint statement, the launch of a large-scale military operation in al-Khalil City in the southern West Bank, where they started imposing curfews, closing roads, and raiding homes.
On Sunday night, Israeli forces reportedly stormed the Jabel Johar neighborhood of the city under the pretext of targeting infrastructure and confiscating weapons, according to the statement.
The Israeli army noted that its operation would continue for several days.
Local sources reported that Israeli forces carried out an arrest campaign, closed several internal roads, and imposed strict restrictions on the movement of residents, including curfews in some neighborhoods.
The sources added that the Israeli army also imposed a curfew in the southern area of al-Khalil City and started closing roads with mounds of dirt and rocks.
Israel’s Channel 12 quoted military sources as saying that the army has deployed hundreds of soldiers and special units to the city of al-Khalil as part of the ongoing operation, which, according to the channel, aims to find and seize large quantities of weapons.
This latest military escalation in the city is part of a wider pattern of Israeli violations across the occupied West Bank since the outbreak of the Gaza war on October 7, 2023.
These violations, including killings, arrests, displacement, and settlement expansion, are viewed by Palestinians as “laying the groundwork for the annexation of the West Bank.”
