On 25 October 2026, Al-Haq sent an urgent appeal, ‘Israel Carries out Mass Forced Displacement in Hebron, Prime Minister Netanyahu, threatens “operation . . .unlike any seen since the Six-Day War”’ to UN Special Procedures for urgent UN intervention to prevent Israel’s escalating attacks on the Palestinian population.

On 23 October 2026, on the orders of Israel's Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Israel launched a military operation in Hebron involving mass forced displacement “to destroy [Hebron], to change it completely.” Over 48 hours, the Emergency Committee of the Hebron Governorate reported that 293 Palestinian families — 1,910 individuals, including 127 infants, 263 elderly, 81 pregnant or breastfeeding women, 26 persons with disabilities, and 134 with chronic illnesses — were unlawfully forcibly removed from their homes by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), many in the dead of night. By 11:03 a.m. on 25 October, the Prime Minister of the State of Palestine reported the forced displacement of more than 2,670 Palestinians from Hebron.

This operation continues a grave pattern across the occupied West Bank. Since January 2025, UN OCHA has documented the displacement of 41,951 Palestinians, including 15,882 children. Israel has dismantled Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank, forcibly transferring 33,000 Palestinians and preventing their return; settlers have forced the transfer of 4,279 Palestinians; and administrative and punitive demolitions have displaced thousands more. In Gaza, Israel has displaced over 1.9 million Palestinians, killing at least 74,544 and injuring at least 175,692, while denying entry of reconstruction materials. Israel’s objective is to remove and destroy the Palestinian group as a whole, while expanding its annexationist settler colonial apartheid regime in Palestinian territory.

In an official statement from Hebron on 23 October 2026, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced plans to cordon off Palestinian cities, destroy Palestinian properties, and mass forcibly displace Palestinians "to destroy this place, to change it completely,” pledging to “implement the successful and aggressive model we used in the refugee camps” — evacuating residents, conducting house-to-house searches, and destroying “terrorist infrastructure”. He warned: “The Defense Minister and I have reviewed a very broad IDF operation in Judea and Samaria unlike any seen since the Six-Day War. The IDF is prepared to carry it out, and we will determine the timing, but it is on the way”.

Defence Minister Israel Katz echoed: “The Jenin refugee camp model arrives in Hebron. Every clan neighbourhood in Hebron from which the terrorists emerged today will be evacuated of its residents... Just like in Gaza, just like in Lebanon”. Finance Minister Smotrich called for “a comprehensive military campaign in [the West Bank] to dismantle the PA... exactly as we did in Gaza and Lebanon,” while National Security Minister Ben Gvir urged dismantling the Palestinian Authority entirely.

On 23 October 2026, following a shooting near the Farsh al-Hawa entrance, Netanyahu ordered the immediate closure of Hebron and preparation for a full West Bank lockdown. The IOF imposed a full military blockade and launched a “broad operation to thwart terrorism” and “destroy the terrorist infrastructure in all its forms”. In a video statement Minister Smotrich, wearing a bulletproof vest standing before Hyundai excavators demolishing Palestinian villas, stated: “If you mess with the Jews, you will pay a very painful price . . . I have instructed the destruction of a series of illegal structures.”

In the early hours of 24 October, the IOF launched a large-scale operation in Khaleh al-Magharbeh, al-Jalda, and Ein Deir Bahah, imposing a complete security cordon, raiding homes, and forcing residents to evacuate immediately under threat. Families were displaced in the dead of night, while the IOF conducted extensive searches, transforming some homes into military barracks. On 25 October, the Prime Minister’s Office of the State of Palestine, reported that “[m]ore than 2,670 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes in Hebron by Israeli occupation forces, the majority of them women, children, and elderly people, according to data from Hebron Municipality.” According to the latest updates from the Hebron Municipality, as of the morning of Monday, October 26, 2026, approximately 488 families—comprising an estimated 3,171 individuals—have been displaced. This includes 209 infants, 258 elderly persons, 137 pregnant or nursing women, 32 individuals with disabilities, and 198 people suffering from chronic illnesses.

One displaced Palestinian recalled to Al-Haq: “At around 12:30 a.m., on Saturday 24 October 2026, I was taken by surprise when around 50 Israeli soldiers stormed my home... One of the soldiers informed me that I had to evacuate the house within an hour. He told me that the areas of Deir Bahah, Al-Jalda and Khallet al-Magharbeh would be completely evacuated, and that no one was permitted to remain in their homes in these areas until further notice.”

These acts violate international human rights and humanitarian law and amount to international crimes prosecutable under the Rome Statute, including genocide and incitement to genocide. Israel's occupation has been recognized by the International Court of Justice as unlawful, breaching peremptory norms governing the Palestinian right to self-determination and the prohibition of acquiring territory by force. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry has raised “serious concern that the specific intent to destroy the Palestinians as a whole has extended to the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory... the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.” Netanyahu's statement “to destroy this place and change it completely,” Katz's call for Hebron to be dismantled “[j]ust like in Gaza,” and Smotrich's call for campaign “exactly as we did in Gaza” evidence genocidal intent.

The forced transfer breaches Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and — when carried out with intent to destroy the Palestinian group — amounts to genocide. The destruction of civilian property as collective punishment violates Articles 33 and 53. The transfer of settlers to “establish more and more communities” is prohibited under Article 49. As affirmed by UN Security Council resolution 2334 (2016), Israeli settlements have “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law”. Further, discriminatory laws and practices aimed at fragmenting the Palestinian group amount to apartheid.

Al-Haq calls for urgent and immediate action in light of the accelerated destruction of the Palestinian group, the mass forced displacement of Palestinians from Hebron, and the aggressive plans by Israel to carry out an operation on the West Bank “unlike any seen since the Six-Day War.” Third States and the International community must:

1. Take collective action as required under Pillar III of the Responsibility to Protect, including sanctions under UNGA Resolution 377A(V) to protect the Palestinian group from continued, extended and worsening acts of genocide;

2. Implement full economic, military and diplomatic sanctions and EU countermeasures on Israel commensurate with the gravity of the international crimes Israel is committing in Palestine; including travel bans and assets freezes on individuals including all members of Israel’s Security Cabinet, military officials, and on Israeli entities, including Israeli political parties, corporations, banks and financial institutions;

3. Ban all purchases of gas and hydrocarbons from Israel; including ending the EU MOU for the import of Israeli gas;

4. Intervene to hold all corporate actors such as Hyundai supplying machinery and equipment to maintain Israel’s unlawful occupation, apartheid and genocide, to account;

5. Ensure that UNRWA and international organisations continue their vital support to Palestinians and Palestine refugees with full access to the all parts of the OPT; including by supporting UNRWA in Palestine through increased financial contributions;

6. Third States to implement legislation prohibiting the import of goods and services, from territory where Israel is unlawfully present;

7. Establish an International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) for Palestine to preserve evidence of crimes in Palestine for international accountability and universal jurisdiction cases;

8. Investigate, arrest and prosecute all Israeli perpetrators of international crimes in Palestine;

9. Remove all existing settlement infrastructure and remove all settlers from the OPT, as per the ICJ Palestine Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024;

10. Act internationally to realise the inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to return, and dismantle Israel’s apartheid laws, policies and practices, systematically preventing Palestinian return and self-determination, including by instituting the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid, and the UN Centre Against Apartheid.