27/1/2026 – Union for Justice
Suddenly and without prior warning, the Israeli occupation army mobilized its forces and, in the early hours of last Monday at dawn, stormed several Palestinian neighborhoods in the southern area of the city of Hebron in the West Bank. The incursion was accompanied by the imposition of a curfew on residents, the closure of streets and roads with iron gates and concrete blocks, the declaration of a security cordon and a curfew over an area estimated at several square kilometers, and the distribution of warning leaflets to residents.
The occupation raises the slogan of “ending lawlessness and collecting weapons” in the area under its control, while city officials say that the occupation itself fuels the alleged lawlessness. They also express serious concerns over actual annexation operations and the expansion of the closed area surrounding the Ibrahimi Mosque in the heart of the Old City.
At the same time, the Israeli occupation army and the General Security Service (Shin Bet) announced, in a joint statement, the launch of a wide-scale military operation in the city of Hebron in the southern West Bank, with the participation of police and border guards. The statement confirmed that the operation would continue for days and would include intensive movements of military vehicles. It also clarified that the forces had stormed the Jabal Jawhar neighborhood with the aim of destroying infrastructure and confiscating weapons, within what it described as “counterterrorism.”
Engineer Muhannad Al-Jaabari, head of the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee—a governmental committee whose work is concentrated in the Old City—stated that the occupation stormed the southern area with military vehicles and armored carriers, despite the fact that it is already under Israeli control and was not transferred to the control of the Palestinian Authority under the signed agreements.
According to the Hebron Protocol signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and “Israel” in 1997, Hebron was divided into two areas: H1, which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority and constitutes approximately 80% of the city; and H2, which is under full Israeli control and includes the Old City, the Ibrahimi Mosque, and a number of neighborhoods south of the city.
Al-Jaabari affirmed that what is taking place has nothing to do with imposing security, but rather constitutes an attempt to empty the area of its residents and expand the closed area within the Old City and around the Ibrahimi Mosque. The area targeted today lies outside that zone, and the occupation is seeking to tighten restrictions on its residents and evacuate it in order to seize control, making the stretch extending from the Kiryat Arba settlement east of the city to the Tel Rumeida settlement outpost at the southeastern edge of the city center accessible to settlers and free of Palestinians—thus an attempt to impose new political realities.
It is worth noting that the area closed by the military order amounts to approximately 4 square kilometers and includes the neighborhoods of Khallet Al-Qubba, Tareq Junction, Jabal Jawhar, Khallet Al-Sharbati, Al-Sahla, and Beirin. It is home to about 3,750 families, with a population exceeding 18,750 people, and contains 12 schools that were forced to suspend operations due to the incursion.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that five Palestinians were injured after being assaulted by occupation forces during the raid on the Jabal Jawhar area in Hebron. Eyewitnesses said that occupation forces beat the five Palestinians while they were going out to purchase basic food supplies, following reports of a temporary lifting of the curfew imposed on residents for three days, resulting in fractures and bruises. They were subsequently transferred to the hospital.
The Israeli occupation’s military operation continued until Friday, 23/1/2026, during which at least ten Palestinians were arrested, and dozens more were subjected to field interrogations after their homes were raided, searched, and their contents vandalized. Main and secondary roads were also closed, and damage was caused to a number of vehicles, according to local sources.
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